The people of Ponyan, in Yagba Local Government Area of Kogi State have expressed appreciation to the Ekiti State Governor, Engr. Segun Oni over the commencement of work on the 11.64 kilometres linking Irele-Ekiti to the town, saying; “we are short of words and expressions to demonstrate how deeply we have been positively touched by this unmerited favour which God Almighty has used you to give to us.

Traditional ruler of Ponyan, Oba (Dr.) Bola Ikuponiyi, who led a high-powered delegation from the town on a thank-you visit to the Governor in his Office today, said the only problem confronting the people of the town was the 11.64 kilometres road, adding that the problem was now being solved by the construction of the link road.

“I represent a very happy community. My people are hard working and we lack nothing except the road linking us with our brothers and sisters in Ekiti State. That road is what you are providing and my prayer is that God will continue to lift you up.

“Politically, you have just started. You will get to the top where you rightly belong,” Oba Ikuponiyi, who went into long prayers for the governor, said.

Speaking on behalf of the Ponyan Development Association (PDA), the Vice President, Chief Samuel Ajayi Bello said; “We are here to acknowledge your kind and humanitarian gesture towards our community and to express our most profound gratitude for what you are doing presently for the community.

“For many years in the past the agricultural produce harvested have been rotting and wasting away due to lack of good roads to transport them especially to our neigbhouring states at the appropriate time particularly Ekiti State. This has adversely affected the production capacity and morale of our farmers. The distance between Ponyan and Irele, the next neighbouring town in Ekiti State is only a little above ten kilometres but as close as the two towns are to each other, they had never enjoyed any form of economic, social, cultural or even political interactions or benefits.

“On market days, people usually trek this distance to sell their produce, which has always been on the lowest scale. Inter marriages between the two communities which should naturally be a common and strong instrument for social and cultural interaction has never received any encouragement because of lack of communication facilities particularly good roads.

“Not too long ago however, we heard it as a rumour that this all important road between Irele and Ponyan will be opened up and developed by your good government. This road had been neglected for too many years to mention and no government on either side, not even the Federal Government had ever remembered to do anything about it. The situation is even worse during the raining season when it becomes impassable because of a collapsed bridge over River Oyi. As it is characteristic of our community to always commit our aspirations and requests to the Almighty God in prayers, the community on hearing the rumour swiftly went into full scale prayer and fasting sessions for the actualization of the proposal. And today, what we are witnessing is the total actualization of the project (i.e commencement of the construction of the 11km road linking Irele in Ekiti State with Ponyan in Kogi State by your good administration).”

Also speaking, Special Adviser to the Kogi State Governor on Rural Development, Dr. Bola Fabola said; “This rare gesture also goes to show how loving and detribalized Your Excellency, the Governor of Ekiti State is. If all other Chief Executives in the country can emulate this type of disposition towards each other, no doubt, Nigeria will be a better-place for everyone.”

Fabola said the multiplier gains that will be recorded with the opening up of the road cannot be over emphasized as there will be obvious increase in trading activities especially in agricultural products which could lead to an appreciable level of poverty reduction.

Responding, Governor Oni said his government would remain commitment to the task of opening up communities in the State to developments.

He said it was criminal for people to be locked-up to disadvantage because of government’s inability to provide access roads, adding that government should be full of apologies to the communities that have been locked-up for years.

“We are opening up communities and we will continue to do that without any apology.

“I was confronted with the reality of the necessity of access roads during the campaign for the rerun election last year when we went to Iyemero, Ikole Local Government. That town never had road since it was founded.

“When we got to Iyemero, the people were singing and dancing, saying I have transformed their lives by giving them money. It was when I asked one of their leaders to explain what they meant that the crowd was told that 200 heaps of cassava that used to sell for N3,500 before the road constructed is now being sold for N42,000. I now further realised the full import of road because a lot of people had been locked-up to disadvantage by successive governments and this is criminal,” Governor Oni said.

Governor Oni, who thanked his Kogi State counterpart, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris for being supportive of his administration said his government would continue to link Ekiti State with neighbouring States in the country through construction of link roads.