In a bid to end indiscriminate parking on the road by worshippers, the Deeper Life Bible Church has constructed a multi-level car park near its new church in Gbagada. It also built a multi-million naira bridge to aid smooth traffic movement around the axis as part of its corporate social responsibility, reports JOSEPH JIBUEZE
It is not unusual to find roads around major churches being blocked during religious services. For residents, movement becomes tortuous. Such churches become a nuisance to communities in which they are located.
To avoid such a scenario, the Deeper Christian Life Ministry is taking steps to ensure that residents of Gbagada in Lagos do not experience difficulties when it opens its new church edifice.
It has commissioned a bridge on Oduwaiye Street in Gbagada, which was constructed by Julius Berger. The bridge was solely financed by the church.
It also opened an ultra-modern four-level underground car park designed to accommodate no fewer than 600 vehicles.
Worshippers would pass under the bridge from the car park to the church, while other road users would pass through the bridge.
At briefing in Lagos, the Project Architect, Pastor Kayode Dada, who represented the General Superintendent Pastor William Kumuyi, said the car park was designed to take worshippers “completely out of the road.”
He said the church has procured 50 brand new buses, and plans to get more.
The aim, he said, is to encourage members to attend worship by buses rather than coming in their own cars, in order to aid traffic management around the area.
“The reason for flying the bridge across Oduwaiye Street is so that we can have the worshippers pass under the bridge, and the community can easily use the bridge. The aim is to minimise both human and vehicular traffic.
“We expect to have quite a lot of worshippers, so we felt the best thing is to take them completely out of the road. So, there won’t be any pain to motorists in the whole of Gbagada. With that, the anticipated vehicular traffic would be minimised,” Dada said.
He said the first three levels of the car park would accommodate 555 cars, while the last level was strictly for buses.
“The church has procured 50 buses, and will get more. We want to encourage our members to come by buses to reduce the number of cars coming for worship in Gbagada. We’re accommodating 76 buses in the bus park,” he said.
Dada said the car park was the first of kind in Nigeria by a church because it was designed in line with valley-like terrain.
“We were able to go down because already there was a valley. So, we pushed it inside to create space underneath, without disturbing the adjacent roads. And you can’t go too high otherwise you will erase the elevation of the church.
“So, the bow-like shape of the land gave room to what we have and the lord led us to see that it’s easy to carve out that. We chose to put the bus park up to have more space for cars down,” Dada said.
The the traffic lights at both ends of the bridge, he said, were installed by the church to further manage vehicular movement in the axis. He said with better management and organisation, heavy traffic can be tackled.
“The church went into such heavy, huge investment to make sure there is sanity around this place and that residents will be comfortable,” he said.
Dada praised the Lagos State Government for its support in granting the necessary approvals, without which he said the projects would not have run smoothly.
“Various agencies like Ministry of Works and Infrastructure worked with us to get the bridge and car park done, supervised the work and monitored their quality. We need thank the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Physical Planning and the Ministry of the Environment for their support,” he said.
The Premises Manager, Emmanuel Okoye, said the bridge and the traffic lights were part of the church’s corporate social responsibility. The bridge is 140 meters.
The car park, he said, is equipped with fire systems and a restaurant, among others.
“It’s a two-way bridge. The day it was commissioned, a large crowd was praising God and was really glad with what has been done. From their own testimony, they’re really happy with the church.
“Before the bridge was built, many of the roads were bad. If there was a major programme by the church or by another church down the road, because of so many cars parking on the road, those living in the area were affected. It becomes a nuisance.
“As a church that lives peaceably with all men, you have to do whatever is in your power to ensure you’re not a nuisance to those around you. I think it’s part of good neighborliness,” he said.
He said the church was working on more access roads in the community around Gbagada.
“The communities are delighted. When you develop an area, it opens it up,” he said.
On whether a 600-capacity car park could adequately serve the church, he said: “The car park is just part of the church’s traffic management plan.”
He said the new church building would be opened soon.
