•Residents beg Ambode, Ikotun-Igando LCDA for repair

By Olubunmi Owoeye

Residents  of Dare Street,  Ikotun, in Ikotun-Igando LCDA, Lagos State are begging the state government to repair the road, saying their cries, through former Chairmen and the Landlord  Association  Committees, have proved abortive. Investigation, however, showed  that several letters had been written to the LCDA without positive response.

Speaking on the issue, the last Chairman of the Landlords Association, Alhaji Rasak Sowemimo, said:  “I have been living in Dare Street since 1990. Initially, the street was neat and  people were not  many. But as we had more residents with more vehicles, Dare Street started getting worse. And since we noticed the dilapidation of the road, we started appealing to government to help repair it. With the help of  former local government councillors, promises were made, we even heard that money for the repair had been approved, yet nothing happened.  However, there has been cooperation between the landlords and  tenants on the project”.

Sowemimo said the road is very bad especially, during rainy season. School children find it difficult to  walk on the road due to its bad condition.  During the time of Mrs. Williams, another former councillor, we were informed that a former Personal Secretary to the Governor was coming and then, they went and brought trucks to sand-fill the road.  We want to appeal to the government of Akinwumi Ambode, to please come to our aid, and help us with the repairs.

Speaking on the issue, the Secretary, Landlords Association Committee, Mr     Lawal stated: “During Jimoh Ajao’s tenure, letters were written to the local government Chairman, who was said to be the government responsible for the repair of the road. Mrs.   Williams came in and carried out some drainage project, digging holes here and there to redirect the floods. So, that is why people have been waiting for government to do it.  Yet government collect revenues from shops here. The local government, for instance, gives permit in the range of N4,700 a year on every shop in the area”.

Speaking also, the Chairman, Feyintola Landlords Association, Chief Oladipupo, a retired Customs Officer, said residents usually tax themselves monthly to generate money for the drainage of the street, though he lamented that  many also refuse to  pay.  Many landlords, according to him, collect money from their tenants, yet refuse to bring it to the common purse. “Even if the government cannot do Feyintola,  they can  at least do Isijola Road to ease the hardship that motorists in the area experience daily,” Oladipupo stated.