By Bose Adebayo

With her ten-month-old baby strapped to her back and holding firmly to her three-year-old son, Mrs. Oladosu Anike, a resident of Egan waited anxiously at Iyana-Iba to board a vehicle to take her home. Time was 6pm but she was not to get home until 12 midnight due to the gridlock on this road. “It is not an easy task trekking a long distance after the day’s work but what can we do since this is usually the situation on Lagos roads,” she said resignedly.

This has been the bitter experience of many commuters who ply the yet-to-be commissioned LASU-Iba road in Ojo Local Government of Lagos State after a portion of the road suddenly caved-in about two weeks ago. The situation has left some of them having to endure the rigor of trekking long distances, while some car owners have had to abandon their cars at home.

A portion of the road had caved-in at Agboroko town beside the Nigerian Army Officers’ Village after a downpour. Since then it has been one continuous harrowing experience for officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA and other relevant agencies as they battle daily to control the worsening traffic, especially as the Iyana-Iba to Igando lane has become impassable.

Though Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa has attributed the incident to natural disaster, some residents who spoke with Vanguard Metro blamed China Civil Engineering and Construction Company, CCECC which signed a N50 billion contract with the Lagos State Government to reconstruct the road.

The residents who spoke on condition of anonymity said the contractor did not construct a standard drainage that could withstand the volume of the flood in the area. “The only drainage on the road was constructed such that water from the various channels could not flow into it. Rather than constructing drainage on both sides of the road, they constructed it on one axis of the road and the residents are left to face the consequence,” complained Madam Amudat Ashamu and Miss Bolanle Awe.

“Each time it rains, the flood is so much that the whole of Iba, Victory, Progress, Iba and Peace Estates, New Site and all other areas are flooded and become virtually impassable,” said Samson Okanlawon.

A source also told Vanguard Metro that some of the water channels in the area have been sold by some land speculators popularly called Omo-Oniles such that many buildings now block the channels.

The situation has led to an increase in transport fares as commercial buses now charge between N150 to N200 for a trip from Ikotun and Iyana-Ipaja to Iyana-Iba instead of the usual fare of N100.

When Vanguard Metro visited the community recently, some commercial drivers complained that officials of the Nigeria Police have taken advantage of the situation to feed fat on them as they now have to part with at least N100 once they come out of the gridlock. “They always operate in batches and they don’t collect less than N100. Each of the batches collect the money as soon as they resume duty and you end up paying as much as N500 before evening,” a driver said.

The traditional ruler of Iba community, Oniba Ekun of Iba, Oba Goriola Oseni lamented the ordeal the residents go through on account of this development. “There is too mush stress because many of them now trek long distances before they get home. The road construction was a shoddy job; I don’t think the contractors were qualified to handle the job.

The extension work is ongoing and yet to be commissioned. The incident has brought sadness to this community and I think a repair work should be done without delay. Government should come to our aid. Apart from this, they should always go to sites to inspect any contract work rather than leaving the contractors to handle such alone. Jobs should be duly inspected before commissioning. I know a lot of shoddy jobs have been done in other pars of Lagos and nobody will detect this until something like this takes place,” the royal father lamented.

When Vanguard Metro visited Agboroko town, a tractor has being moved to the site as LADTMA officials battled to control the gridlock.