Residents of Salu-Obodo-Alasia road in Ajah, Eti-Osa Local Government, Lagos, have appealed to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to help fix their road.
According to them, the 6.9 Kilometres bad roads has brought untold hardship and suffering to the community consisting of Oke Ira Nla, Ira NIa, Alasia, Oke Ira Kekere, Badore, Oke-Egan and Oko Addo towns among others.
Speaking at a briefing, Chairman, Steering Committee on Salu Obodo-Iranla-Alasia Road Project, Alhaji Abdulateef Balogun, said the over five million inhabitants are facing recurring agonising vehicular traffic.
“Since there is no alternative route, the bad road, aside damaging our vehicles, is causing loss of man hour to traffic gridlock. A journey of about 10 to 15 minutes had the road been constructed is now about three to four hours. Residents spent up to N30 million annually to maintenance their vehicles and more importantly citizens’ health deteriorating due to strains being experienced by them in the long traffic,” Balogun said, adding “Our fears and apathy regarding actual and timely construction of this road as promised by Mr. Governor stems from the unfulfilled promises made to us by the immediate past administration in 2018 when construction of the road featured in that year’s Appropriation Law (2018) and we wondered why it was not effected to the letter. Since we would not appreciate a repeat of what happened in the year 2018 this time around trusting Mr. Governor as a man of his words, we feel there is need for us to let the press know how important and valuable construction of this road would be to the entire community. There is no gain saying the fact that the continued non-construction of the road which would have brought succour to the community no doubt has brought suffering to us.”
The Chairman, Property Owner and Resident Association (PORA), Alhaji Kazeem, said the communities have approached the council, but were told that the road was a state project and they don’t have the capacity to embark on it.
“We want the government to alleviate the suffering of millions of people residing in the community by decongesting Badore road. On our own, we constructed a temporary bridge to get out of the environment.”
The committee’s Public Relation Officer, Mr. Idris Ibrahim, claimed that on a yearly basis, the residents spend an average of N10m to grade the road to make it accessible for commuters.
A resident, Mrs. Bernadeth Nkiruka Doe, said the deplorable state of the road is worrisome to residents, inflicting pains on motorists and commuters.