4th November, 2016
They said that it was a black Friday as many spent several hours in the traffic before passing through the long bridge from Lagos which on a good day should not have lasted 30 minutes.
Correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that passed through the bridge between 2.p.m. and 5 p.m. observed that the construction company had commenced the scrapping of the topmost layer of the Lagos outbound lanes of the long bridge.
All vehicles travelling outside Lagos that had formed between five and six lanes from 7-Up Bus Stop had to merge into plying two lanes instead of the normal four lanes because of the partial closure.
It was also observed that there were fewer commercial buses on hand to commute several passengers to either Warewa, Arepo, Ibafo, Mowe or Redemption Camp from various designated bus stops within Lagos State.
The bus operators had increased their fares by between 100 and 200 per cent while passengers were rushing to board them.
At 2 p.m., operators of commercial buses at Ketu Bus Stop had increased their fares from the normal N200 to N300 while the social miscreants there were taunting passengers that the fare would soon be increased to N500 per head.
Mr Sunday Abegunde told NAN that he boarded Mowe –Ibafo from Oshodi Park for N1,000 at 5p.m.
“I paid N1,000 from Oshodi to Mowe–Ibafo, which on an ordinary day should have been N300.’’
Mr Sola Ajayi said that he paid N700 from 7-Up Bus Stop to Mowe for a fare that used to be N150 per passenger at 7.12 p.m. having about four hours of waiting.
Also, instead of three passengers per seat in a 14- passenger bus, they had increased it to four passengers to a seat.
The situation was same at 7-Up, Julius Berger and OPIC Bus Stops where there were seas of heads expecting to board any available bus.
Similarly, NAN noticed that several other passengers had resorted to trekking as seen on the long bridge toward Wawa having waited for several hours without getting any vehicle to board to their destinations.
Many commuters said that this weekend was not the best time for the construction company to commence rehabilitation of the Lagos outbound lanes.
They said this was because of the monthly religious programme by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) at its Redemption Camp and that of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) holding at its Prayer City, all along the ever-busy expressway.
Mrs Funmilayo Alao, a member of the Redeemed Church, said that the construction company should have waited for the two events to be over before it commenced its rehabilitation on the Lagos outbound section.
“Many Nigerians from Lagos State will troop out to the Redemption Camp on the first Friday of the month for the Holy Ghost vigil while others will go to the Prayer City the following Saturday morning for the church’s `Power Must Change Hands programme’’’ .
“Those who go there always pray for peace and progress for Nigeria in addition to praying for their personal and families’ intentions, she said.
Pastor Friday Olaiya said that the construction company ought to have created alternative routes for commuters before they embarked on the rehabilitation.
“That is how it is done in advanced countries. Employees are not expected to take their employers for granted.
“Nigerians are the employers of this construction company because it is from the tax payers’ money and their commonwealth that the contractor is paid and mobilized to site.
“As such, the contractor should have respect and show concerns for the welfare of its employer,’’ he said.
Alhaji Liadi Abdulahi, a commercial bus driver lamented that the gridlock encountered on the road would have negative impact on his health.
It would also cause tear-and-wear on my vehicle and this would compel me to take it to my mechanic very soon for service and possible change some spare parts that I did not budget for now, he said.
Another driver, Femi Owoade wondered why the construction firm was working on both sides of the long bridge simultaneously.
“The company commenced rehabilitation on the Lagos inbound lanes of the expressway close to six months ago. Up till now, it had not finished it.
“Why should it move on to the Lagos outbound lanes again.
“Is that not chewing more than they can eat at once?
“I think these people should have the welfare of the road users at heart before and when working on our roads,’’ Owoade said.
Mrs Philomena Chukwudi said that the Minister of Works, Housing and Power ought to have considered the strategic importance of this road to Nigerians while he was giving directives to the construction company to move to site.
“The minister ought to have advised the contractor to work at night when there would be light traffic rather than in the day when the road is always ever busy,’’ she said.
Also, Miss Tolu Oyebola said that travellers had been experiencing gridlocks since construction works started on the Lagos inbound of the expressway months back, especially, in the mornings of the working days and at weekends.
“We have thought the construction company would have acquired enough experience and perfected its strategies on how to handle important roads such as this over the years without subjecting users to unnecessary hardships,’’
Oyebola , however, urged both the Lagos and Ogun State Governments to work on the resuscitation of the railway to guide against such hardships in the future.
“If the trains were to be working along this axis, many people would have boarded them instead of the buses,’ she said.
She urged them to also beef-up security along the expressway to protect those that might be trapped in the traffic over the night.
“We have had reported cases in the past when innocent commuters were robbed of their valuables during traffic gridlock especially on the Lagos inbound section,
“I want to commend the traffic administrators for ensuring that no driver drove against traffic, and thus ensuring sanity on the road,’’ she said.
The expressway had in recent months witnessed a series of traffic gridlocks caused by road constructions, multiple accidents and distressed portions.
It had also not received any major rehabilitation compared to the current one since it was constructed in 1978.