The Onimeko of Imeko, Oba Benjamin Oyeditan, has hailed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the reconstruction of the long-abandoned Frontier Road.
He described the project as a major intervention capable of opening up Imeko-Afon Local Government and transforming its economic fortunes.
The monarch spoke at the weekend ahead of this year’s Agbinrekoti Festival, an annual cultural gathering, which he said would provide opportunity to preserve the heritage of Imeko people, draw attention to the area’s development needs and strengthen ties with Ketu communities across the border in Republic of Benin.
Oba Oyeditan said Frontier Road dated back to the colonial era, when it was conceived as a major corridor linking Idofoi through Imeko and extending towards other parts of the country.
He said the road, which began from Idofoi in 1900 and reached Imeko in 1906, was originally intended to extend towards Bida and Kebbi, before plans were later made in 1918 to connect it to Badagry.
The monarch regretted that the original route was subsequently altered, resulting in what he described as years of infrastructural neglect for communities along the frontier corridor.
He said the present administration’s Sokoto-Badagry Road project, although not following exactly the original alignment, had brought a major road infrastructure back through the frontier corridor.
‘But thank God for President Tinubu. Sokoto-Badagry Expressway now passes through my local government. Though not the original place that it was intended to be before, at least the Frontier Road passes through the frontier corridor,’ he said.
Oba Oyeditan described the development as a correction of what he called past anomalies in infrastructure planning, saying the project had begun to remove Imeko and surrounding communities from decades of isolation.
He appealed to the Federal Government to complement the road project with the establishment of a tertiary institution in the area, noting that communities in Imeko had historically taken responsibility for providing basic education.
The monarch said strategic location of Imeko-Afon and its proximity to the border with Benin Republic made investment in infrastructure particularly important.
He noted that the local government had vast expanses of undeveloped land with significant agricultural and industrial potential.
The reconstruction of the road, he said, had already begun to change the fortunes of the area by improving access to markets and reducing the difficulties previously experienced in transporting agricultural produce.
He called for the establishment of a Federal Medical Centre in the community, saying Imeko’s status as a border town made such an institution necessary.
He also appealed for the establishment of a Federal College of Agriculture and Development Studies in Imeko, noting that the area was predominantly agrarian and had historically relied on communal and missionary efforts to provide primary and secondary education.
Oba Oyeditan urged the Federal Government to consider a bill sponsored by Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, seeking the establishment of the institution.
‘Being a border community, being a border headquarters, the first frontier headquarters in what is known as Nigeria today, Imeko deserves Federal Government establishment of a higher institution of learning. ‘