About N24bn is required for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of deplorable federal roads in Kwara State.

The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, said the state government had made passionate appeals to the Federal Government to intervene on the roads so as to reduce the hardship to road users and avoid carnages on the roads.

According to him, the appeals had yet to yield positive results.

He said, "We are not going to wait for the Federal Government. Offa-Erin-Ile road is something that we will try in the year's budget to its drive rehabilitation. I know it is around N600m to get it to a desired level. Kaiama-Kisi road is going to take a minimum of N6bn to N8bn to take it to completion and of course Omu-Aran-Kabba road I don't think that would take less than N8bn. Of course Jebba to Eiyenkorin cannot take less than N4bn.

"Eiyenkorin-Jebba road is another federal road, which requires heavy rehabilitation. Erin-Ile-Osun State boundary, Ajasse-Ipo is another critical road, which requires rehabilitation. Omu-Aran-Kabba road requires critical rehabilitation and these are roads we have highlighted and laid on the table."

Many people had died and several others maimed with goods worth millions of naira lost during accidents along the roads.

For instance, about 18 different auto crashes were said to have occurred around Osin River in the early weeks of October, last year during which many lives were lost.

The governor said, "All these (road projects) are more than my monthly allocations. But as it were, I am trying to get into a new funding arrangement that would allow me to continue some of these programmes.

"We wanted to reach that agreement. Unfortunately, the Federal Government has not given a concrete answer on that. Rather, what they have told us is that there is a policy in place which would allow states to repair federal roads and get paid back. Then, we asked for the guideline. They gave us the guideline regarding Kaiama-Kisi road and how to engage contractors, the bidding process and the level of award."

He said that he briefed the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, during his recent visit to the state that the state government was willing to look for money to execute the road projects on behalf of the Federal Government.

The governor also said that the state government would soon commence work on the Ajass-Ipo-Osun boundary road, adding that the project could cost about N600m.

He said, "We will inject some money into that this year. I will start the rehabilitation, along the line, if the Federal Government sees that we mean business and we are really concerned about the plight of our people who do not have access to passable roads, maybe they would respond.

"But as a state, we have made up our mind to execute the Offa-Erin-Ile road. I have since called the contractor to do the estimate, which has come to around N600m and I assure you that work would start on the road very soon."