Our Pains on Lagos Roads

By Coker Onita/

Last weekend, l travelled to lkorodu town, a suburb of Lagos. Must quickly confess that the experience was neither palatable nor interesting. It was a nightmare! Unlike travelling to Lagos Island, using Ketu, my abode, as middle point, the experience ought to be smoother and more pleasurable. l shall explain.

The directional flow of Lagos traffic in which virtually all commuters travel in one direction, facing Lagos Island in the mornings and changing to the opposite direction again in the evenings is no longer so. The present scenario offers a fresh paradigm of confusion, pain and planlessness. Both sides of the expressways are blocked with huge traffic hold-ups.

The reasons are not too far to seek. With the spate of construction and rehabilitation of roads and bridges that are on going, everything has been turned into an Hobbesian state of nature.

The trick, to my mind, is to give the psychological impression that government is doing the needful: that of making life more abundant to its citizens by giving them more motorable roads. Far from it. If that was the original intention, they should have planned the projects in phases. For example, how can government decide to repair Eko Bidge, Third Mainland Bidge, lkorodu Road, Apapa- Oshodi-Oworonshoki Expressway, Abeokuta Expressway, Badagry Expressway, etc all at the same time, without consideration for commuters? How can?! We refused to be deceived by such alibi. Some clear openings should exist for road users to enable them commute painlessly.

As they are doing the high ways, so also are the internal roads. Everything is now in a state of flux, making Lagosians spend invaluable hours in traffic gridlocks.

Last Saturday, a trip from Ketu to Ikorodu town, a distance of about 30 kilometres, took four hours and a return took over six hours, for a journey that takes barely 40 minutes! This is sheer insensitivity and wickedness!!

Now that they have dug up all the roads, with less consideration for commuters’ convenience and comfort, they should warn the contractors not to add more to their suffering by closing the roads indiscriminately. Why close a section of two kilometres stretch when you are working on 500 meters? Why turn the roads to construction yards where they bake blocks and cut iron bars which should be done at their work stations?

While we appreciate that when there is no pain, there will be no
gain, government has a responsibility, a bounden duty to lessen our burden at all times. They cannot suddenly turn the whole city to a construction site without adequate consideration for our comfort and safety. You need to see the way road side urchins, petty thieves harass motorists inside traffic hold ups. Some even come with Jack knives, cudgels, revolvers and other dangerous weapons to injure and maim motorists in a bid to collect their valuables: money, phones, laptops, etc. An encounter with the boys during evening hours is frightening, easier said than described.

The excuse of COVID 19 lockdown cannot stand. It’s all about careful planning and diligent prosecution. Lame excuses are not enough.

But one must add that the attitude of commercial drivers, popularly referred to as “danfo” create part of the mayhem on our roads. They jump queues, block on coming vehicles and generally add to the confusion. The rate at which trailers break down and sometimes empty their content on the roads; unhooked containers falling on innocent motorists add to the mayhem. All the excesses should be curbed by traffic road officials. Planning and monitoring are key factors in making our roads smoother, safer which makes driving more pleasurable.

Over to you, Minister Babatunde Fashola and his Lagos counterpart. They should synergize their offices and work in amity so as to reduce the pains and agony of Lagosians on our roads.

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