Between the rock and the sea

Past but criminal neglect of roads just caught up with the polity. The Federal Government has announced that its contractor, Julius Berger Nigeria, would part-close a 1.4-kilometre stretch, at the Lagos end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The part-closure period: August 3 to October 31.

But no sooner was this announcement made than citizens, particularly those domiciled or having offices along that corridor, kicked. Why, there was even a public protest,  to project the depth of their angst, over the planned closure.

Past exercises at such, even not too long ago when the “long bridge” after the Kara cattle market, on the outbound traffic to Ibadan, was being fixed. It was sheer horror and heartache, from stressed commuters, drivers and the general road users. So, nobody can blame those now in near-blind panic, for the horror to come.

Yet, no one too can blame the government for at last waking up to do the needful. Since that Lagos-Ibadan Expressway opened to traffic in 1978 — 41 years ago — there had been little, if any attempt, at a comprehensive upgrade.

Worse: that corridor had become some magnet for faiths, Christian or Muslim, as choice retreat, following a trail blazed by The Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG’s Redemption Camp.

Stragglers too, fleeing from cut-throat rent in Lagos proper, had found succour, both sides of the expressway, with the road acting as beacon. Though property development often outpaced service infrastructure, severe hunger for own homes has ballooned the population in the area.  That has also driven up vehicular traffic, up to the Sagamu interchange.

Yet, practically nothing, in 41 years, was made to make the road better. Indeed, before the advent of the present government in 2015, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was one of Nigeria’s worst death traps, always lamented by the media, with the government of the day turning a deaf ear.

During the Obasanjo presidency, a half-hearted attempt was made to fix the road. That dovetailed into a public-private partnership (PPP), that never really took off the ground, after eons of excuses, and appeals for understanding.

That then was the situation before the current development — a complete reconstruction of the road, which delivery time is 2021. Indeed, it was supposed to be earlier, until the Bukola Saraki-chaired 8th National Assembly started suspect virements, that moved budgeted funds to less critical areas.

That sense of the road lingering too long under reconstruction, must have fuelled the government’s insistence that the part-closure must go on “The project is expected to be delivered by 2021; and any other postponement will affect that date,” volunteered Clement Oladele, Ogun State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).  Besides, hardly anyone could fault the argument that the works are better done, before the Christmas spike in traffic.

Still, the authorities must think of the stress that part-closure would impose on road users.  Added to a customary high-stress environment, it could well be a matter between life and death.

It is reassuring all the traffic and security agencies have been talking about putting in place special arrangements to control traffic; and lessen the stress on the people. But nobody can blame those who sneer and snap: talk is cheap! The notorious fact is, with earlier experiences, these agencies had spectacularly failed to deliver, leading to hideous traffic snares.

To be fair, however, most of these snares resulted from gross indiscipline among the road users — that penchant to drive anyhow, especially against legitimate traffic, simply because there is a traffic snarl. In preparing for this part-closure therefore, the traffic agencies must come up with effective approaches to sternly deal with these road outlaws, to make the experience less stressful for the law-abiding majority.

But the common denominator, for both the people and the government, is that this major artery had been neglected for too long. Worse: even the other alternative routes are in worse states of disrepair. That explains why there is so much anxiety, on the explosion of diverted traffic, on the partly-closed expressway.  Had there been alternative routes, the anxiety level would have been far less.

So, let the present government ensure that never again must our roads be neglected, to the stage that it creates populace panic, even while trying to fix the problem. To the people, they also must wake up and cry out, even if a government appears to be snoring, instead of working.

No polity or economy can afford a near-total shut down, because a road is undergoing reconstruction.  But this is a choice between the rock and the sea, because of past bad choices.