The Onimeko of Imeko, Oba Benjamin Alabi Olanite Oyeditan, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for reconstructing the long-abandoned Frontier Road, describing the project as a major intervention that could open up Imeko-Afon Local Government Area and transform its economic fortunes.
The monarch spoke at the weekend ahead of this year’s Agbinrekoti Festival, an annual cultural gathering he said would help preserve the heritage of the Imeko people, draw attention to the area’s development needs, and strengthen ties with Ketu communities across the border in the Republic of Benin.
According to Oba Oyeditan, the Frontier Road dates 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 the original alignment exactly, brought major road infrastructure back through the frontier corridor.
‘But thank God for the incumbent President, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Sokoto-Badagry 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.
‘So that is part of the correction the present administration is making to correct past anomalies,’ the monarch said.
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.
According to him, indigenes, missionaries, and other community members had established primary and secondary schools, but the time had come for the government to provide tertiary education infrastructure.
‘Primary and secondary schools were established by the community. Tertiary institutions should now be established by the government, especially the Federal Government,’ he said.
The monarch argued that Imeko-Afon’s strategic location and proximity to the international border with the Republic of Benin made infrastructure investment 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 improve the area’s fortunes by improving access to markets and easing the difficulties previously experienced in transporting agricultural produce.
‘Number one, we are no more obscure. That road will bring us out of being at the backyard of the world. At least the road has opened up the area,’ he said.
Oba Oyeditan added that improved road access would help farmers move their produce to markets in northern and southern Nigeria, reducing losses that occurred when farm products could not be transported quickly.
‘The economic benefit of that road is that all our agricultural produce that used to get spoiled before, we now have access road either to the north or to the rest of the southern part,’ he said.
He further said the improved road network could attract factories and other businesses to the area, as investors would have easier access to land and transport infrastructure.
‘Even for people who want to locate factories, the road is now available. Along the road, land could be purchased or leased, and they could site their factories. So the road has opened the place up,’ the monarch said.
He urged the Federal Government to sustain its intervention by providing complementary infrastructure that would maximise the economic and social benefits of the newly improved road corridor.
The Onimeko of Imeko also called on the Federal Government to establish higher education and healthcare institutions in the border community, saying its historical importance as a frontier headquarters has not been matched by adequate infrastructure.
According to Oba Oyeditan, Imeko was the headquarters of the Western Frontier Preventive Service established in 1899 and historically served as a frontier centre covering the area from Badagry to Shaki.
He said the town’s strategic location and its long association with the Customs Service, immigration, police and other border agencies justified greater federal investment.
‘We are the border going to people across into the Benin Republic. We have Customs, Police, Soldiers, Immigration; we have all of them,’ he said.
He called for the establishment of a Federal Medical Centre in the community, arguing that 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, to establish the institution.
‘As a border community and a border headquarters, the first frontier headquarters in what is known as Nigeria today, Imeko deserves the Federal Government’s establishment of a higher institution of learning.’