By Adekola Afolabi
The Ondo State Commissioner for Infrastructure, Land and Housing, Raimi Aminu has commended the high level of professionalism so far exhibited by journalists in the state.
This is even as the Commissioner assured residents of Akure that the potholes on the metropolise major roads would soon be addressed.
Aminu who made the comment while receiving executives of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Ondo State Council led by its chairman. Comrade Leke Adegbite, in his office in Akure, said Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu had ordered the ministry to devise means of fixing the potholes immediately.
The NUJ boss had earlier expressed concern over the increasing potholes particularly along major roads in Akure, the state capital.
While commending the role of journalists in the development of any society, the Commissioner said the government sees constructive criticism as a catalyst for development, saying it would spur it to do more.
Aminu, who blamed the recent upsurge in potholes in some major streets in Akure on increase in cost of bitumen and the increase in rainfall, said government was doing everything possible to fix them, targeting the appropriate weather so that resources would not be wasted.
“The pot holes issue is a thing of concern to us. We have the estimates, we have the bills here but there is no money. And if we even want to start on credit these days, the rain is disturbing again.
“The ones we did recently, we will have to repeat because of the rain. Look at that Fiwasaye roundabout, somewhere in Ijapo even the road to the governor’s office. Everytime we patch and patch. It is because of the weather,” the Commissioner said .
“So we need dry weather because if asphalt moisture content is too much, it will spoil again. So we should plan such that immediately we are approaching dry season, we swing into action,” Aminu assured.
The Commissioner promised to fashion out with NUJ, how to actualise request of the union for land that could be used for Second phase of PEN ESTATE in the State.
Also speaking, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Owolabi Allen, commended regular support of the media to the state government’s activities, promising that the ministry would continue to reciprocate the gesture.
Earlier in his remarks, the State Chairman, Comrade Leke Adegbite had commended the harmonious relationship between the government and the media in the state.
