8th December, 2014
The traffic snarl on Lagos – Ibadan expressway always worsens in December when various churches along the busy road hold their congresses or conventions. Even before December, travelling along the expressaway is always a herculean task because of various religious programmes taking place there on weekends.
Travellers are usually trapped on the road for several hours because of the influx of worshippers into the churches. Some of the mega churches include the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Deeper Life Bible Church, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church, etc.
The programmes of these churches attended by hundreds of thousands of worshippers usually disrupt free flow of traffic on the expressway, with the attendant man hours lost by travellers on that road after being trapped for about twelve hours in some cases when the situation gets out of control.
To ease the situation this year, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, which is already holding its yearly Congress this week, has put in place some palliative measures, including advising followers to leave their cars at home to reduce traffic. The church said only members with their 2015 stickers will be allowed into the convention ground and those already within the convention premises would be encouraged to take church buses.
These are laudable measures but not far-reaching enough. It is our opinion that a permanent solution can be found. We believe that a permanent solution lies in expanding the road around the convention ground and building bridges there to reduce traffic. Dedicated lanes on both sides of the expressway from Berger axis for people going to churches in that area would free traffic for other road users.
The churches and the Federal Government could foot the bill for the construction of the dedicated lanes. This is the only way to solve the perennial problem that has traumatised travellers on that road for over two decades.
It does not require rocket science to find a lasting solution to this problem. We believe that it is in the interest of various churches to come together and ensure that the expressway is expanded for free vehicular movement.