Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has said that the firm that owned the explosives that exploded at Eleyewo community along the Akure-Owo-Benin highway would be made to pay for properties destroyed.
Governor Akeredolu said proper valuation of all affected properties must be ascertained before the company would be made to pay to the last penny.
A truck conveying the explosives had on March 28 exploded at about 1 am after fire erupted from the engine.
It destroyed two churches, a school and over 70 buildings but nobody died in the incident.
Traffic had to be diverted to the abandoned old Bénin-Akure road due to the huge crater created on the road by the blast.
Governor Akeredolu who spoke while inspecting repair work on the road assured the affected residents that the company would be made to pay after the valuation of the properties have been completed.
Akeredolu urged the residents to cooperate with the valuers and assured them that he would not leave them to bear the burden of the explosion alone.
He expressed satisfaction with the ongoing repair work on the road which he said was being done through the Direct Labour Agency of the Ministry of Works.
The Ondo Governor said the work on the road was important because the road is the only shortest route to access other parts of the country from Akure.
Earlier, the Special Adviser on Lands, Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Raimi Aminu, said the reconstruction was being done with specifications of the Federal Ministry of Works.
Aminu said the job would be completed within ten weeks and added that the federal government would reimburse the state the cost of fixing the road.