For straight five hours, Adebola Idowu (not real name) struggled through the debilitating traffic jam stretching from Alakija on Lagos-Badagry Expressway to the Army Signal Barracks, at Mile 2.
Idowu, who resides in Satellite Town, in Oriade Local Council Development (LCDA) of Lagos, had fixed an appointment for 10am on Martins Street, Lagos Island. Factoring in the usual traffic jam on the expressway, the insurance broker had set out by 7am, hoping he would reach his office on the Island by 10am.
But the traffic jam on Monday, June 29, was an unusual one. By 11:30am, Idowu had only managed to reach the under bridge at Mile 2, where he got stuck for another 25 minutes. His car was dragged out of the murky flood by members of the National Union of Road Transport (NURTW), Mile 2 ECOMOG unit. From there, he called off the day’s appointment.
Idowu is not alone in this. Nelson Adams, a resident of Festac Town, along the same axis, had a similar experience the following day, Tuesday, June 30. Adams left his home on Fifth Avenue, Festac Town, at 8:33am, heading to Apapa, Nigeria’s premier port city, where he hoped to inspect a consignment of goods at the Apapa Port. He did not arrive Apapa until 1:45pm.
But it is not only productive man-hours and business opportunities that are being lost in the flood induced traffic jams on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. Lives are also being threatened, just as cash and valuable properties are lost on a daily basis, as armed robbers take advantage of the situation to smash cars’ windscreens and rob motorists at will.
Solomon Adisa, also a resident of Festac Town, was not as lucky as other motorists who waded through the flooded road unhurt on the night of Saturday, June 27. His car’s window screen was smashed. He was robbed of huge sum of money by armed men under the Mile 2 overhead bridge.
Adisa told BusinessDay it was the most traumatic experience of his life. According to Adisa, his car had just got stuck in one of the ditches beneath the flood when two armed men approached him.
“I initially thought they were coming to assist but they turned out to be robbers. They wasted no time smashing my window glass, pointing a gun at me. My pleas felt on deaf ears. They made away with my laptop and the N500,000 I had in the car’s pigeon hole,” Adisa.
These sad narratives have become the daily experience of motorists and commuters at Mile 2 and other roads in Lagos. Even before the rains set in, most roads in the metropolis had been a major headache for commuters. The heavy rainfall being witnessed in Lagos has worsened the condition of what is supposed to be an international route – linking the West African biggest commercial city with countries like Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana.
Less than 10 years after the former administration of Babatunde Fashola undertook the reconstruction and upgrade of the yet to be completed expressway from four to 10 lanes, the drainage system at Mile 2 seems to have collapsed, resulting in unprecedented flood.
Every year, as the rains come, motorists plying the road become victims of armed gangs who cash in on the situation to dispossess them of their valuables.
On Tuesday, June 30, members of the NURTW were seen taking up the task of pouring interlock stones on the flooded road to assist vehicles pull through the water.
Managing director of AA Motors, who doubles as chairman of Amuwo-Odofin branch of the NURTW, Ajele Abayomi, described the development as disturbing.
According to Abayomi, the situation has affected their transport business, as daily trips by members have been significantly reduced, thus impacting their income generation.
“The situation has been like this since rain started. We’re appealing to the minister of Works and Housing to liaise with the Lagos State government to fix this road. They need to drain out the water, work on the collapsed drainage channel and repair the bad portion of the road,” Abayomi said.
Indeed, other sections of the road – such as the stretch from Igbo Elerin to Volkswagen, have also collapsed. Particularly troubling is the section between Lagos State University (LASU) and Iyana Iba-Volkswagen. It has resulted in disruption of vehicular movement, to the extent that motorists now spend upward of two hours between Igbo Elerin and Volkswagen, a short journey that should not take more than 10 minutes.
In the bid to help themselves out of what has become a mess on the road, motorists have resorted to driving against traffic flow (one-way). The result is total breakdown of law and order, as LASTMA officers posted to that axis to control traffic have become helpless.
When contacted, Sina Odunuga, public affairs officer of the Lagos State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, said the state government was mobilising China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation to return to site and fix the collapsed portions of the road.
“We will issue a statement,” Oduunuga told BusinessDay, but as at the time of this report the statement was not yet out.
