Friday 13th October 2023 will go down in the record of many of the commutters who use the Oyo-Ogbomoso Expressway as one of their worst travelling experiences as they are stranded and have spent many hours on the same spot on the road, delaying their journey and whatever Businesses they were going for.

Some of the commutters who spoke with our correspondent expressed their grievances as they attributed the gridlock to the bad portion on the Oyo-Ogbomoso Expressway. Therefore, they bemoaned the Federal government for inability to complete the new Oyo-Ogbomoso Expressway which started many years ago and which has just about 50% completion rate.

Oyo-Ogbomoso Expressway gridlock on 13th October, 2023.

It will be recalled that years ago, many accidents were recorded on the single-lane old Oyo-Ogbomoso road which was too tiny for Expressway status. The road is the route used majorly by vehicles that want to connect the Southwest with the North via the Ilorin-Jebba route. As a result, most long vehicles that convey goods from the Northern Nigeria to the Southwest use this route, constituting serious threaths to other road users. This was why the Federal government under Former President, Muhammed Buhari through the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) commissioned the new Oyo-Ogbomoso Expressway which is dual lane to sort the problem. This was suppossed to bring succour.

However, the succour is yet to come as the road is yet to be completed many years after its commission.

Meanwhile, the new minister for Works and Housing, Umar Ibrahim El released a statement on Wednesday 11th October 2023 that about ₦217B has been earmarked for the construction of 260 roads across Nigeria.

The Minister for Works and Housing, Umar Ibrahim on tour of Nigerian roads.

However, the Minister's statement did not state what the plan of the government and the Ministry is, on the roads that are still under construction throughout the country.