SOME Lagos residents have appealed to the federal, state and local governments in the state to repair bad roads in various parts of the metropolis.
PUNCH METRO had on Tuesday reported the deplorable state of some roads with a promise that more of such roads would be published.
One of our correspondents, who visited Shomolu and Bariga areas on Thursday, reported that most of the roads were in deplorable state.
Some of the roads visited in Shomolu are Onipanu-Bariga Road; Olurunsogo; Fadipe; Odumiwa; Anuoluwapo; Adurosaki; Okujobi; Johnson; Eyiowunawi; Odunbanjo; Akinsanya; Busua; Ajose; Shodimu; Ofo; Oguntolu; Akeju; Awe Crescent; Shyllon and Akinrilo.
Those in Bariga are Emmanuel; Odunsi; Olanrewaju; Abeokuta; Owojoju; Sanmole; Lawal; Adewunmi; Kusa and Adebayo.
Some of the residents, who spoke with PUNCH METRO, said they had made many representations to both the Lagos State Government and Shomolu Local Government on the state of the roads without any response from the two tiers of government.
It was observed that many motorists in the areas now divert to some streets, especially during rush hours, in their attempt to avoid traffic jams caused by potholes on the roads.
A bus driver, who plies Bariga-Onipanu Road, Alhaji Isiaka Balogun, told one of our correspondents that it was no longer profitable to ply that route as man-hours were spent on the road.
Besides, he said he coughed up a lot of money to repair his vehicle, which broke down at will due to the state of the road.
“It is sad plying the Bariga-Onipanu Road popularly called Pedro Road. I spend close to N8,000 every month to repair my bus. I do not even drive some days because the bus would be with my mechanic, who most of the times, have other vehicles to work on. I am really tired of the road,” Balogun said.
Another bus driver, Mr. Ugochukwu Chidimkpa, said he would change his route as the bad road was affecting his transportation business.
“It is not easy living in this Somolu area or being involved in transportation business. I spend a lot of money repairing my bus. Many passengers are even avoiding the road. We only transport those that have no alternative routes to their destinations. I plead with the government to urgently help us repair this road,” he said.
For a town that boasts of big industries like Nigerian Breweries, Costain West Africa Plc, National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, and serving the two nation’s ports, one would think that Ijora would be one of the most developed areas in the state in terms of infrastructures.
But Ilaje Road, an adjoining road leading to Ijora where there are some of these big industries, is in a bad shape.
A resident of Ijora, Mr. Banjoko Ojo, said the road had long been neglected by the Federal Government, adding that it was worse during the rainy season.
Most of the materials that were used to patch the road have removed and this allows water to flow underground and spread on the road. This is compounded by trucks that are indiscriminately parked on the road.
Another resident, who gave her name simply as Iyabo, said at times the trucks were parked on both sides of the road thereby hindering the movement of pedestrians and other motorists.
She said, “Whenever rain falls, it becomes difficult to access the road. At times when the water covers the road, including the ditches, people fall inside the ditches because everywhere would have been covered with water.
“Ijora serves as transit route for containers from the ships that berth at both Apapa Port and Tin Can Island. Trucks are parked indiscriminately, occupying accessible areas of the road by the commuters.”
A motorist, Chuks Alika, who spoke to PUNCH METRO in Onikan area of Lagos Island on Thursday, advised relevant authorities to investigate why Nigerian roads could not last for a long time as obtainable in some countries.
He dismissed speculations that frequent spoilage was as a result of low-lying nature of the state, arguing that in other advanced countries with similar topography as the state’s, most of their roads built donkey’s years ago still endured till date.
Instead, Alika accused construction firms of using substandard materials on roads, saying that it was high time the government took drastic action on errant firms.
Alika, who resides on the island, said despite regular repairs on most of the roads, they were still in deplorable state.
Specifically, he listed areas such as Habibu Oki; Adeniji Adele; Freeman; and Apongbon, as roads that were motorists’ nightmares as a result of potholes and gullies that dotted the length and breadth of the roads.
One of our correspondents, who visited Obalende, Lagos Island and Victoria Island, observed that some roads still have a number of portions begging for government’s attention.
In Victoria Island, a resident, who described himself simply as Abraham, said places like Maroko, Adeola Odeku and some areas near Bar Beach, were replete with potholes.
“On Monday, I spent about two hours from CMS to Adeola Odeku where I work. I set out for the journey at 7am and got to office at 9am. Two straight hours! It is that bad. I plead with the authorities to at least patch the bad portions of the roads to alleviate the sufferings of road users,” Abraham said.
Potholes are also common towards the end of Oba Akinjobi Road in the Government Residential Area, Ikeja (near the Ghanaian embassy).
A motorist, who identified himself as John, said he drove into pothole on the road and his car’s two front tyres got removed.
He said the road posed a great danger, especially to strangers to the area. “It is easy for any motorist to drive into the ditch either at night or when it rains,” John added.
According to him, road repair should be a recurrent item and should be given priority by the government.
The road under the Obalende bridge in Lagos is also bad. Some of the commercial drivers said although the road was repaired regularly, they observed that inferior materials were being used.
Meanwhile, PUNCH METRO observed that some contractors had begun repair works on some of the bad roads in the state.
Road contractors were seen on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway; Oba Ogunji Road; Pen Cinema; Akowonjo Road, among others, undertaking repair works on Thursday.
One of our correspondents, who visited Lagos-Badagry Expressway, learnt that most of the potholes on the road between Volks Junction and Ojo Barrack were patched last week.
However, PUNCH METRO observed that the minor repairs are just palliative measures put in place as the Oko-Afo area of the road still requires a major repair due to the deplorable condition of that section of Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
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