By Godfrey Bivbere

Residents and commuters plying the Mile2 – Badagry expressway have once again cried out to the Lagos State government to come to their aid, even as they blame men of the Ojo and Barracks Commands of the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, for the intractable traffic jam at the Volks end of the expressway, alleging that it was a fall out of the desperation by some police men there to collect toll from commercial motorcyclists and bus operators, popularly called Okada riders and danfo drivers, respectively.

According to them, armed police men from the two commands are posted to that bus stop everyday from 6.30pm and they (police men) use the opportunity to extort money from Okada riders and danfo operators.

Illegal activities

Helen Njuko, a commuter who spoke Vanguard Metro, VM, said that the police men usually position themselves along the Badagry-Mile2 end of Volks Bus-stop in order to stop and collect N200 each from Okada riders driving against the traffic. He explained that it was the confusion arising from this that usually lead to the road being blocked, thus making it difficult for vehicles heading for Mile2 from Badagry to drive through.

She pointed out that the illegal activities of the police men oftentime leads to traffic build up from Volks all the way to Alabarago. She pointed out that on a bad day, a distance of two kilometres will take between two and four hours to get through for vehicles caught in the traffic.

For a resident who simply gave her name as Mosurat, what is most frustrating is the traffic confusion on the opposite side of the bus-stop (the Mile2-Badagry end) that has become a daily affair. She accused the ever-present police men there of being responsible for this by allowing the area-boys, popularly called “Agberos”, to harass commercial drivers for money; in the event, the danfo drivers end up having to use two lanes to load their buses, thereby impeding the flow of traffic on the road.

She noted that at the end of the day, the area-boys ‘settle’ the police men, and even brag about the protection this gives them to misbehave.

Apart from police men, there are some unidentified security usually dressed in military fatigue who also have been contributing to the traffic chaos. This they do by often directing motorists to turn where they are not supposed to. On any given day, the traffic jam which usually stretches to Agric Bus-stop and Barracks Bus-stop (a distance of about four kilometers).

Emeka Nwagbara, a commuter and trader at Auto-parts market, said the Lagos State government seems to have forgotten the area as it does not care about the suffering that people of the area pass through daily. Nwagbara informed that everyday, hundreds of passengers are compelled to disembark from commercial vehicles and trek like refugees from Barracks Bus-stop to Iyana-Iba Bus- stop, a distance of about six to seven kilometers because of the traffic.

He stressed that even with the general elections around the corner, the state government is not bothered about the well being of people in the area. He added that the traffic situation was made worse when a campaign team of the ruling political party in the state stormed the area recently.

The auto-parts trader said another problem point is the turn leading to the Iba end of the Iyana-Iba Bus-stop. He noted that commercial drivers from Iba are encouraged by Agberos, after collection of sundry tolls, to park and load their vehicles at the road side leading to Iba, thereby causing obstruction of traffic.

This, he continued, often results in traffic build-up from that point up to Volks, a distance of less than two kilometers but which takes between an hour or two to drive through.

He said in the past, the intervention of army officers at critical moments helped to ease the traffic snarl, but regretfully observed that the situation has since taken a turn for the worse with soldiers now eagerly participating in the collection of illegal toll from motorists driving against the traffic from Barracks to Volks. He pointed out that when the traffic congestion becomes too bad, motorists in their bid to get home on time turn at the Barracks Bus-stop to drive against the traffic, preferring to pay the sundry tolls before getting to Volks.

In the event, motorists driving against traffic and the activity of police officers collecting toll from okada riders at the Volks end up blocking other vehicles coming from Okokomaiko.

He charged the state government to come to the aid of residents and commuters plying that route as the suffering that they are passing through on daily basis has become unbearable.