By A Concerned Citizen
Nigeria is a nation blessed with a lot of human talents in business, politics and science. These brilliant minds are also all over the world making gigantic breakthroughs in their callings. Lagos State, a state with a population hitting 22 million according to the United Nation is also lucky to be blessed by the sterling leadership qualities of Babatunde Raji Fashola, the attorney turned governor of the emerging mega city called Lagos. After over six years at the helm of affairs as the chief security officer of the state, a lot of developmental projects has taken roots in the hitherto development retarded state. New roads and bridges have emerged on the landscape of the state, schools have been renovated and modernized, and housing was another key measure of development occupying the mind of the governor. To say the 50-year-old governor has not changed the image of Lagos would be undeserving and unpatriotic. However, certain observations are singled out in the course of carrying out these monumental developments in the state.
One of the numerous bridges constructed by the state government has received knocks from the affected residents giving the level of chaos and palpable insecurity it has brought to the community. The recently completed Ajao Estate—Ejigbo bridge is the focus of this write up. Ajao Estate had hitherto been noted for its serenity and security; it is also an industrial estate accommodating the factories and administrative offices of multi billion naira businesses of tax paying companies like Chivita, the award winning juice manufacturing conglomerate, among others. Some years ago during the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as governor of the state, the then commissioner for works now the governor of another southwest state, Rauf Aregbesola had commenced planning the erection of bridge linking Ejigbo and Ajao Estate in order to ease the perennial traffic congestions that crippled productivity due to man hour loss associated with traffic delays along Ikotun Isolo road; unfortunately the landlords associations of Ajao Estate welcomed the idea but stated categorically that bringing an access bridge within the estate will not only break the serenity of the community, it will also bring about massive insecurity within the estate. Arguments for and against were put forth and reasons prevailed, hence the state government shelved the idea of erecting the bridge linking the estate to airport road en route Oshodi and Badagry expressway.
Fast forward to 2013, governor Fashola allegedly approved the contract of constructing the bridge even without inspecting the site and the environment personally for the proposed construction. Now the bridge has been completed and is already being used by motorists and commuters even without the usual fanfare commissioning usually associated with such infrastructure development by Nigerian politicians. Up till the time of writing, the governor has not deemed it fit to come physically and inspect the bridge constructed by the Chinese firm, CCECC. Meanwhile, the bridge has brought untold traffic hardship and insecurity to the community; tenants and property owners have started leaving the estate in droves given the unexpected buzz of motorists and commuters plying the bridges, and no thanks to the narrow roads exclusively created within the estate for the use of residents before this untoward hardship.
Pleas to the government ab initio not to sight the bridge within have fallen on deaf ears even when alternative route for the bridge was advised. Post-completion, the estate and its warren roads are now subjected to unanticipated use by the planning of the estate. Meanwhile, rumor mills acknowledged that the state government had owned up making mistakes with the sighting of the bridge along the estate. However, nothing is being done to ease the hardship caused by commercial buses(Danfo) and tricyclists, i.e. Marwa who daily throng the new road allegedly meant for only private cars. Another rumor mill has it that the famed MC Oluomo, a chieftain of the notorious NURTW gangs has brought his men to start collecting dues from commercial bus and tricycle operators operating along the bridge; this is expected to compound the issues at stake as payments made commercial motorists give them confidence to use the road/bridge against regulation by the state government.
It is a known fact that the APC-led government in the state gets the most bloc votes from Alimosho Local Government at every election. It is also noteworthy that residents of Alimosho Local Government have also been long neglected in the development agenda of the state; hence, some relief must be brought to the multitudes from that axis that ply Ikotun-Ejigbo-Isolo traffic laden routes daily given the loss of productive man hour they lose. This has necessitated the construction of the bridge leading to Ajao Estate. However, must the government provide relief to one side and hardship to another in the course of infrastructural development? This is the politics of infrastructure development the state government is finding difficult to balance in the face of 2015 election as it approaches.
We call on the governor to spare an urgent thought on this development and provide lasting solution to restore the serenity and glory of Ajao Estate while simultaneously providing alternative channels to ease traffic on the other side of Ejigbo. Tolling the link road, say, at N500 for any private vehicle plying the road will reduce the honking craziness of motorists and bring some sanity to the road while at the same time providing revenue for the maintenance of the road. This will be a welcome development to both sides enjoying the development.
Concerned Citizen
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Sirbayubayblogspot
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