Ambode should unlock the Lagos-Badagry-Alakija logjam
To say that a drive through Badagry Expressway in Lagos, Nigeria’s former capital city has become a nightmare, would be an understatement.
Motorists are daily compelled to spend the whole day on the road for a journey that should not take more than half an hour, say for instance, between Mile 2 and Iyana-Iba, on both sides of the expressway. No thanks to the endless construction work being undertaken on the road by the government of Lagos State, with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) as the contractor handling lot II of the project.
Seven years after the contract was awarded by the immediate past government of Babatunde Fashola, the road is barely 30 percent completed. Work had stopped at a time, but the contractor was remobilised before the 2015 electioneering campaigns culminating in April 11 governorship elections. Today, it is difficult to say whether work is ongoing on the road or not. Keen observers of developments on the road say the officials of the construction firm are daily idling away on the site.
Thrice the state government had fixed the completion date for the project and thrice it had been shifted. As things stand today, there is no specific date for the road to be completed.
While this is happening, an unprecedented traffic challenge confronts commuters daily. At the heart of this traffic menace is Alakija Bus Stop, where the construction firm has created a disorderly round-about that allows vehicles from Satellite Town, Navy Town, Festac Town, Mile 2, Okokomaiko to lock horns in a manner that beats all known traffic control mechanisms and strategies, resulting in a perpetual logjam that puts motorists in an endless frustrating struggle.
Before the road was bungled and left in its present ruins, there was no U-turn at Alakija Bus Stop. Vehicles emerging from Festac Third Gate had to drive to Abule-Ado Bus Stop where they made a U-turn towards Mile 2, while those entering Festac Town from Okokomaiko and Navy Town would make their U-turn some 200 metres away from Alakija. This ensured that Alakija Bus Stop itself was free. But that is no more.
The present situation is such that all vehicles from Agboju, Navy Town, Okokomaiko and Festac Town now logjam in an attempt to make a U-turn at Alakija Bus Stop as created by the CCECC, thereby allowing a continuous rat race at Alakija.
This has created a traffic bottleneck that is overwhelming to the combined forces of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), naval personnel from Navy Barracks, Satellite Town, soldiers from Ojo Military Barracks, traffic wardens and the regular policemen from Festac Area ‘E’ Command.
According to some commuters, in the absence of commissioners to relate with the public, the state ministries of works and infrastructure as well as the ministry of transportation are manned by permanent secretaries who seem too comfortable in their offices in Alausa to know what is happening in some critical areas of the state.
“The expressway is a strategic one because it links other West African countries but with several man-hours wasted daily, the road has become very unattractive for business-minded people, said a commuter, David Achum who deals in jewelleries at the international trade fair market located on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
Commuters are pained that the construction firm seems to be riding on the back of the construction work that would ultimately bring relief in the future, to subject Lagosians to unbearable pains while the relevant ministries look away.
“But Lagosians do not have to develop high-blood pressure or die because road is being built for them. Road infrastructure is for the living. If motorists and commuters plying the Lagos-Badagry Expressway are forced to their early graves while the construction lasts, who then will use the road upon completion,” said a commuter who also called on the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode to take urgent steps to free Alakija of the logjam.
JOSHUA BASSEY