Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has lamented that his administration has continued to fix deplorable federal roads in the state without refund from the federal government.

Akeredolu spoke while inspecting the rehabilitation work being done on the road at Ayede-Ogbese/Owo Expressway in Akure North Local Government Area.

The governor who was accompanied to the site by the state Commissioner for Lands and Infrastructure, Engr. Raimi Aminu, explained that the Ayede-Ogbese road was being repaired by his administration to alleviate the suffering of the people playing the road.

According to him, hundreds of millions have been expended by the state government to fix some federal government roads.

He noted that the state had earlier carried out several intervention works on many Federal roads in the state despite the dwindling resources, without getting refunds from the Federal Government.

The Governor, who described the road as the link to the Northern part of the country from the South, urged the Federal Government to allocate more funds to the state to be able to carry out more developmental projects for the benefit of the people.

According to the Governor, the Ayede-Ogbese road which was constructed over 20 years ago required major maintenance including resurfacing.

The Governor also listed some of the Federal Government roads rehabilitated by the state without getting refunds to include the road affected by a blast at Ilu-Abo in 2020, Ifon and Ipele junctions, among others.

“We can say it that the Federal Government has bitten off more than it can chew. Often times, most of the federal roads get spoilt. Even the Federal Road Maintenance Agency set up by government is not able to rise up to the occasion on time.

“But whether we like it or not, these roads are being used by our people, and we have no option than to look for money, in spite of lack of finances, to carry out this sort of intervention.

Akeredolu said, “a number of time we have this type of intervention we don’t get refunds. We have done this in few places like when we had the big blast last time at Ilu-Abo, along this road, which cost us hundreds of millions. We did it but till tomorrow, Federal Government has not refunded us.

“We are not too sure whether they will pay for this one we are doing again. We just have to do it for the sake of our people. Those who use this road are not just only our people, this is the link to the North from the South. It is very unfortunate, and I believe the Federal Government should come into this,” the governor stressed”, he added.