Motorists, commuters, residents and other road users bemoan the anguish they go through on the Lagos/Ibadan section of the federal highway. Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan reports.
IF the motorists, commuters and other road users who got stuck in the day’s early morning gridlock had thought setting out early would help them beat the usual rush, it appeared they got it wrong as many others had the same idea. Consequently, as early as 4a.m last Saturday, many of those who had intended to make it out of Lagos before the famed gridlock would heat up, found themselves trapped right in the middle of a long traffic with little or no hope of making it out of it in hours.
Our correspondent, who had set out to capture an eyewitness account of the much talked about gridlock, never envisaged that it would start that early. And by 6a.m, it was already impossible to make it to the Ojodu Berger axis of the road from Ikeja with a car. Not to be deterred, he hopped on a bike and snaked through the endless gridlock for nearly an hour before he could get to the Kara bridge, where he joined hundreds of other stranded commuters to continue the journey on foot.
The day before, a local television station had captured and aired an incredible footage of what many people described as the worst vehicular jam in recent times, bringing traffic to worse than a crawl and holding up several motorists, both private and commercials, for as long as six hours at a stretch.
On the said Saturday, meandering through the snakey jam both on foot and with the aid of the now readily available commercial motorbikes, our correspondent spent over eight hours observing the standstill from Berger to Isheri North to Mowe, and on to the Ogere toll gate. And for most part of these hours, the vehicular traffic was at a standstill while motorists unfortunate enough to be trapped within sweated profusely and wished they had stayed off the road that day.
Of course, lamentations and calls for urgent solution to the causes of the worrisome grid lock rent the air as many motorists left their cars and buses to engage in roadside discussion while waiting eagerly for the traffic to as much as move an inch or more. Obviously, not many among those discussing were aware of the real cause of the gridlock.
For a gridlock that started as early as 4a.m as witnessed by The Nation, it is noteworthy to say here that the situation didn’t as much as change for nearly ten hours as motorists were still trapped on the busy road till as late as 10pm. Further reports later indicated that the situation was the same till the wee hours of the following Sunday morning.
What’s amiss?
While it is not a new thing to hear of heavy traffic on the Lagos/Ibadan highway, the situation no doubt worsened in the last weeks as the logjam became a daily occurrence; sometimes even spilling over till the next day. To make matters worse, attempts by some impatient motorist to detour or turn back from the traffic were creating incessant confusion on several portions of the road.
In the past, a number of very bad portions of the road had been responsible for the lockdowns witnessed on the highway. But with effort made to attend to those, the traffic situation improved drastically. Save for days when the many religious organisations with camp grounds on the road hold programmes, the road was hardly locked in any serious traffic for a while, until recently.
The Nation learnt that the current debacle on the highway was actually as a result of further efforts by the federal government, through the federal ministry of works, to rehabilitate the expressway and solve its numerous problems. Sadly, it is that good intention to attend to the needs of the road that is now causing sorrow for many road users.
Work commenced on the road last year after the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, had, in February 2016, announced the federal government’s decision to priotise the road amongst highways needing attention across the country. According to him, the rehabilitation work on the road would take about 24 months to complete.
He said N50bn had been proposed in the 2016 budget to speed up work on the reconstruction of the expressway. “The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has been prioritised as a major traffic artery. The bulk of our imported cargo comes from Apapa, Tin Can ports through this road to other parts of the country,” he had said back then.
“Food items and livestock from the North also reach the South-West and other areas through the road. It’s in our national economic interest to fix this road,” Fashola added, while assuring Nigerians of the determination of the federal government to ensure the speedy completion of the construction work on the highway.
True to his words, contractors were mobilised and they moved to site almost immediately. And with Julius Berger doing simultaneous construction and repair works, on the Third Mainland Bridge, Kara Bridge, Long Bridge and MFM Bridge, along the same Ibadan/Lagos Express road, not a few persons expressed concern over possible traffic crisis.
So, as work progressed on the road, constant lock jams for motorists resurfaced. Today, at all the points where rehabilitation works are being carried out, two lanes are permanently shut to traffic. Gradually, the traffic crisis assumed worrisome dimensions until it became the menace it is today.
The lock jam sometimes starts in the early morning rush to offices and persists till late in the day, when most workers are heading home. This is coupled with the thousands of inter-city trailers and utility vehicles that use the route daily. It is not unusual for this lock jam to spread to other parts of Lagos and Ogun states like Ikeja, Ketu, Ikorodu, Mowe, Ibafo and its environs.
Carmageddon?
A trapped motorist, Dr. Jide Ajani, a medical doctor working in Sagamu, Ogun State, and living in Lagos, while speaking with The Nation, described the situation with a queer phrase when he said “the situation is crazy. There is so much confusion at many points on the road and one is left to wonder if the Armageddon is here. Maybe this is Carmageddon. Or how else should one describe the fact that I’ve been on this same spot for three hours?”
According to Ajani, who said his plan that day was to quickly dash to Sagamu to attend to a patient who had been pestering him to come over, and then return to Lagos to spend the weekend with his family, the day’s logjam would be the third day in a row that commuters would be locked in traffic for hours that same week.
He recalled that the previous morning, while on his way to Lagos, he had witnessed a tortuously long stretch of traffic on the outward lane from Lagos, stretching from Redemption Camp in Ogun State to Alausa in Lagos State. He said though the drive into Lagos was also not smooth, it was nonetheless moving.
“When I saw the traffic, I sensed I may be in for a similar scenario on my return journey. To beat the possibility, I decided to set out pretty early, leaving my house in Magodo by 4.30am. But here I am, by 9a.m, yet to even get out of Lagos, not to talk of reaching anywhere near Sagamu, my destination,” he lamented.
The medical practitioner said he had to take pictures of the bedlam and send them to the patient waiting for him in Sagamu.
“I had to take pictures of the traffic and sent them to the patient waiting for me in Sagamu before he could believe I wasn’t lying about the traffic situation, after hours of having to tell him to be patient as I was held in traffic. Even at that, he still kept calling me and asking me to see how I can get to Sagamu as fast as possible.
“I know his medical history and I know that, sincerely, he needs urgent help. I tried convincing him to see a colleague before my arrival but for reasons I can also understand, he insisted it had to be me. You can imagine such a situation. Should anything happen to him, who are we going to blame? These are some of the things we must always consider when we try to carry out projects like this,” he said.
Right inside the same traffic, a couple could be seen, their cars were stuck in the standstill and both husband and wife had come out to join the multitude gathered by the roadside, waiting for the traffic to move. A good look at them revealed their disappointment at the situation. But, of course, there was nothing they could do at the moment.
“We got married today,” the groom told The Nation on Sunday. “We are on our way from the church somewhere at Taiwo bus stop in Ojodu Berger. We are heading to the reception at Ibafo where we live. We left church around 11am, and here we are, the time is 4pm. I learnt many of the guests at the reception left when they were told of the situation here,” he said sadly.
Refusing to be photographed, just like her hubby, the wife said her elder brother had to come on a bike to see them after two hours of waiting for their arrival at the reception. “The only people at the reception now are those who didn’t come to the church with us and a few who could muster the courage to go back from church on a motorbike,” she lamented.
More lamentations
Femi Idowu, an Engineer with the Nigeria Bottling Company, told The Nation he works in Ikeja while his wife, a teacher, works in Ojodu. They have their house in Oke Ayo, behind Punch Place on Lagos/Ibadan Expressway. According to Femi, the incessant lock jam on the expressway has made him relocate his family of five to Ketu, Lagos.
His words: “I do a lot of shift work and sometimes I have to get to work very early in the morning. Due to the daily lock jam on the Expressway, I usually get back home late and would not be able to rest well before going back to work. I had to relocate my family temporarily from that axis to save our sanity. Right now I’m staying with my brother and his wife in Ketu and it’s not heart warming. It is not like living in your own place.”
Idowu is not alone in his lamentations. Kayode Demola, a real estate dealer, has offices in Ilupeju and Lagos Island. He says the lock jam, which he witnesses six days in a week, has affected his health. He lives with his family of four in Magboro, Ogun State. He recalled how he nearly broke down following his weeklong ordeal in the melee.
“I spend an average of eight hours, six times in a week in traffic since the beginning of this year, when Fashola started construction on the bridges along the Express road. Last week Friday, I developed a swollen leg due to this stress and this is coupled with a bout of malaria. It is not a palatable situation as valuable man-hour is also wasted in the lock jam.
“As I am talking to you, my leg is still swollen. I’ve been to hospital and I was told I have to rest the leg. How do I do that when I have to go to work and meet up with customers daily? It is no longer convenient for us residents of the communities around here. I am appealing to the federal government to put this construction into proper perspective,” he said.
Similarly, Mrs. Justina Iloba, a public school head teacher, who is also a landowner in Arepo, Ogun State, would want a solution to the logjam as soon as possible. According to her, it has never been this bad since she moved into the area years ago. For her, and other residents, the traffic is nothing but punitive.
“I usually live home early to get to my school by 8 am Monday to Friday, as well as drop off my children at their own school in Berger. This week Monday, the hold-up was so bad that I had to return home. My children could not make it to school and I could not get to my office too. This has been on for a while now.
“On Sunday, my neighbour was also robbed at 3pm on the long bridge because of this lock jam. I think it is about time the federal government in collaboration with the state governments affected put armed patrol men on the long bridge to forestall this harassment, loss of property and vandals attaching motorists.”
Opportunities for criminals
Aside the pains inflicted on the people by the lingering traffic, armed robbers and other bandits appear to be taking advantage f the slow movement of vehicles on the highway to unleash terror on innocent road users, not only at night, but also in broad daylight. There have been several reports of robbery and other crimes being committed right inside the logjam by armed youths.
Last Tuesday, scores of commuters and motorists were treated to a bizarre show of force in the hands of armed hoodlums suspected to be of Fulani extraction on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. In the noon time attack, many road users were robbed of valuables, while even more sustained injuries.
The said robbery took place just before the old Ogere toll plaza, where the attackers reportedly emerged from the nearby bush wielding dangerous ammunitions. The traffic situation, which was at its peak at the time, made it impossible for the victims to escape. The robber then took their time to disposes the motorists of their properties.
Abimbola Oyeyemi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), who is the spokesman of the Ogun State Police Command, confirmed that some of the bandits were indeed Fulani, adding that one of them was eventually killed during an exchange of gunfire with the police. He said about twenty hoodlums participated in the attack.
According to eyewitness accounts, the robbers robbed commuters in about six buses, mainly women suspected to be Lagos-bound traders, of their cash and other valuables. They also descended on about four private cars and jeeps, robbing the occupants of money and other valuables.
On Thursday night, some miscreants also took advantage of the logjam to rob motorists and other road users on the Kara bridge axis of the road. According to a victim who spoke to The Nation, the criminals, armed with cutlasses and knifes, knocked on the screens of vehicles and ordered the occupants to open their doors to be robbed or have their screens shattered with stones and other objects.
“We were in our car when we saw these guys coming from the front. Somehow I sensed trouble and told my husband to lock up the car. Just as he was doing that, we saw them harassing the people in the car right in front of us. We saw them break the screen with a big stone and forced the man in the car to part with his phones and purse.
“As they came to us, my husband just opened the car door for them. They took our phones and other valuables and moved on to the next car. That was when I noticed that on the other side of the road, more youths were gathered walking about aimlessly. Apparently, they were all part of the same gang,” she said.
Many of the commercial bus drivers while attempting to reverse, to escape from the robbery scene, hit other vehicles, creating a jam and blocking their escape. One after the other, the passengers, including the reporter, made a dash for their lives. Those who could not escape were robbed and many of them were dealt machete blows for not having enough cash.
The robbers smashed the windscreens of three buses, a Toyota Venza and a Toyota Corolla, after they had been ransacked stealing handsets, computer laptops and other valuables left by the fleeing owners. Moments later, a team of policemen arrived at the scene and, according to Oyeyemi, they were able to kill one of the robbers during a gunbattle, The Nation learnt.
An end in sight
But if the words of the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mr. Godwin Eke, is anything to go by, the pains of road users may soon be a thing of the past. According to him, the rehabilitation of section one of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has reached an appreciable stage and once the section is completed, the traffic on the road will subside greatly.
According to him, section one of the road spans from Lagos to Sagamu interchange and is being handled by Julius Berger, while section two spans from Sagamu Interchange to Ibadan, and is handled by Reynolds Construction Company. Eke urged Nigerians to bear with the government and contractors while the construction lasts.
The Nation also learnt that following widespread outcry over the nagging logjam on the road, Fashola may have directed the contractors and other concerned people to find a way of alleviating the suffering of the people while the construction work is still ongoing. According to a ministry source, the minister is of the opinion that there could be a way of ridding the road of traffic.
It was also gathered that the minister has warned the contractors against extending the lifespan of the job. “The minister is aware of the many complaints about the traffic situation on the road and he is urging the contractors to speed up their work and ensure that they deliver right on time.
“Just recently, he reiterated his determination to see that the rehabilitation of the Lagos Ibadan Expressway, both section one and section two, is not turned into another unending government project. He personally called on the contractors to adhere strictly to all the terms of the contract and ensure that the job is delivered in good time,” our source said
