Motorists and commuters lament over the deplorable state of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway

The onset of the rains evokes different feelings in different people and in different places.

For motorists and commuters plying the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, particularly the Abule-Egba/ Sango axis of the road, the rains come with pains, trepidation and anger as the deplorable state of the road takes turn for the worse during wet seasons.

From Abule-Egba end of the road to Joju in Sango-Ota, Ogun State, a distance of about five Kilometres, motorists sometimes spend hours navigating through the road, especially during peak periods.

Most commercial vehicles, in a bid to evade the dangerous craters and potholes along this road, now resort to making detours, which in most cases does not go down well with most passengers, who often do not find such decisions favourable.

A commercial driver, Mr Wasiu Alayande told Sunday Sun that apart from the fear of getting stuck in gridlock, the poor state of the road also impacts negatively on his vehicle, causing most motorists to spend more on repairing and maintaining their vehicles.

“I consider it safer to take inner roads and link the express road when I get to a dead-end than taking the main road because of the way the road impacts our vehicles.

“The passengers will always complain out of fear when they know that you are not taking the normal route. But I can’t continue to take my bus to a mechanic and continue to spend money on repairs every time. Moreover, the bad shape of the road makes it very unpredictable. So, it is better to take inner routes than get yourself bogged down in traffic,” he said.

But taking inner roads also comes with its own challenges. Some commercial drivers complained of ceaseless extortions by area boys who often barricade most of the inner roads to extort motorists, particularly commercial bus drivers before allowing them access to ply the roads.

Alayande said that drivers are extorted from street to street, adding that failure to yield to their demands can sometimes lead to a fracas during which passengers may lose their belongings.

“There could be as many as five to six places where a driver will have to pay before they allow you to go. But where you, as a driver or a conductor, refuse to be extorted, some of the boys may resort to fighting you during which your passengers may not be spared. Some passengers have been robbed of their valuables during such fights,” Alayande revealed.

Sunday Sun correspondent who went round the road from U-turn Bus-Stop in Abule-Egba to Ijako end of the road in Ota, Ogun State observed that craters of various magnitudes dot one part of the dual carriageway, thereby making some portions of the road impassable to motorists many of who resorted to plying one way.

From Amje Bus Stop to Tollgate, the border between Lagos and Ogun State, motorists heading toward Sango Ota were seen plying the same stretch of the road with those heading in opposite direction.

Sunday Sun further gathered that until last week, when the ban on the operation of commercial motorcycle operators, popularly known as Okada in part of Lagos came into effect, Okada riders had made brisk business commuting passengers from Lagos end of the road to as far as Ifo, in Ogun State.

A resident of Sango Ota, Mr Dimeji Aremu said the ban on Okada by the Lagos State government has further worsened the plight of the people using the road and pleaded that the government come to the aid of the people by completing the road project.

“Many people had found solace in commercial motorcycles due to the poor state of the road before now. But with the ban on the operation of Okada by the Lagos State government, those who had resorted to the option of Okada will now have to contend with what other commuters have been facing since the government abandoned the road,” he said.

In October 2021, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, staged two major protests to call the attention of the Federal Government to the poor state of the road.

Ogun State Chairman of NLC, Comrade Bankole Emmanuel who led the protest had said that palliative work was not the answer to the worsening condition of the federal roads in the state, describing it as a disgrace. He accused Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola of lying to residents of the state by telling them that the road would be fixed soon, noting that nothing was on the ground for his promise.

The protest, which was the second to be organized by the labour union, having staged one three weeks earlier, came at the time the Ogun State government had begun palliative work on the road.

But the NLC insisted that the terrible state of the road at the time required that the Federal Government reconstructed the road to ease the pains of motorists and commuters who plied the road on daily basis.

Prior to the protest by the NLC, residents of Ota staged a similar protest over the terrible state of the roads in the area.

The protesters who were armed with placards of various inscriptions accused President Muhammadu Buhari, Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, the Senator representing Ogun West, Tolu Odebiyi and his counterpart at the Federal House of Representatives, Jimi Ojugbele, of neglect, insisting that their actions led to the destruction of the road.

The Minister of Works and Housing had during an inspection tour of the interchange bridges on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, last September, said the Federal Government was ready to borrow money to fix the Ota-Abeokuta road.

The minister who put the cost of the reconstruction of the road at N56 billion had assured the people of the state government’s readiness to commence work on the road.

But nine months after, motorists and commuters plying the road Lagos-Abeokuta expressway have continued to groan over the worsening condition of the road amid fear that things could get totally out of hand as the wet season reaches its peak in the weeks ahead.

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