The manholes on the road.
Residents of estates on old Lagos-Abeokuta Road have raised the alarm over killer manholes that dot some sections of the road, saying they pose danger to road users and the residents.
They told PUNCH METRO that many accidents had occurred as a result of the manholes.
They added that road users, especially motorists, were forced to slow down as they approached the manholes, thereby exposing them to attack from hoodlums and armed robbers, who loitered around the area.
They therefore appealed to the government to urgently rehabilitate the roads and block the manholes.
Our correspondent, who visited the area, noticed that motorists found it difficult to ply the road and their slowing down when the approached the manholes also resulted in traffic snarl.
The Manager, Sunshine Estate Oko-Oba III, one of the estates in the area, Mr. Idoko Phillip, said residents had made individual efforts by filling the manholes with used tyres to alert motorists of the impending danger.
But he regretted that their efforts were not enough as motorists still ran into the manholes resulting in accidents.
Phillip said, “We feel very bad about all these manholes on the road. They have been there for some time now. Efforts have been made personally to prevent any occurrence of accident there. We had put tyres to indicate that there is a danger ahead for the motorists and other road users. But this has not yielded any positive result because some unknown people removed the tyres. It is a big problem.
“Even in the daytime, some motorists do not take cognisance of the tyres until they reach the verge of the manholes. It is only then that they try to meander and such can be disastrous. This attitude puts the lives of other road users at risk.”
The estate manager called on the government to come to the residents’ aid to avoid preventable deaths and attacks from hoodlums.
He argued that if road users were finding the road unsafe during daytime, the situation was worse at night.
Phillip said, “There have been some accidents, although they were not fatal. There was an accident that happened few months ago. I heard that a car knocked someone down and the victim sustained serious injuries and was treated at a hospital. The manholes really pose a great danger to the road users. Imagine how dangerous they will be at night.
“Some people may be driving there oblivious of the holes and they may fall into them or get their vehicles damaged in the process. Hoodlums and armed robbers can take advantage of the holes to unleash havoc to the road users.
“For the safety of Nigerians, the government should ensure that the appropriate authority fixes the roads. We want a speedy response. We should not wait until they claim lives. It will be very sad and bitter if the government only finds a solution to this problem after human life has been lost.
“There are four manholes: one near Mapowe Estate; another near Sunshine Estate; the next at Vetland and another one after that. They are between the abattoir area and Total Filling Station.”
A resident of Mapowe Estate, Mr. Kehinde Lasisi, said the manholes caused an accident a few weeks ago and a woman was severely injured.
He said, “We are not comfortable with the manholes. We want government to help us fix them to avoid more accidents. They are dangerous. There was one accident that I witnessed. A vehicle was coming from Agege and another one from Abule Egba, the drivers seemed not to know about the holes. There was a woman that wanted to cross to the other side, suddenly they hit the woman, she sustained injuries and was rushed to a hospital for treatment. This happened about three weeks ago.”
The Lagos Zonal Director, Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, Mrs. Bola Ilemore, in response to our correspondent’s text message, said the Federal Ministry of Works had commenced work on the road, and assured the residents that their concerns would be addressed soon.
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