Mega menace in megacity: Killer craters, gullies take over Lagos roads

a reporter with the leadership, mr. babalola yusuf regarded shattered. he had earnestly seemed forward to starting the first running day of the week with out a good deal hassles, but an early morning auto-crash caused by a pothole dented his enthusiasm and punctured his to-do list.

the twist of fate took place on september 18, 2017 at kola bus forestall at the lagos-abeokuta freeway, in which he hit a car in the front of him. the motive force of the car had carried out his brake to manoeuvre via a pothole on the bus forestall at approximately 5am that busy monday morning, unknown to him that yusuf had closed up with him. although each drivers escaped unharmed, the collision delayed them for approximately an hour, which become fed on in negotiating the way to repair the broken cars.

“i wakened very early and organized to go to lagos island. i left early, that allows you to beat the loopy monday morning traffic congestion. but the whole lot became a unhappiness really because of one pothole. the enjoy became so horrific because i ended up spending tons to restore the second celebration’s car and mine,” he informed day by day sun.

yusuf instructed the reporter that the quantity of money he spent to restore each vehicles turned into enough for authorities to restoration the failed component that triggered the hassle.

yusuf said: “my revel in is really one out of many different comparable ordinary occurrences at specific terrible spots within the country. you can’t drive on a 10-kilometre stretch inside lagos without halting for a pothole, except in some roads in victoria island, lagos island and lekki. i don’t understand for how long we shall continue to lament over horrific roads in a meant mega town that lagos claims to be.”

it’s miles, indeed, a season of lamentations in lagos.  everywhere you move, you notice potholes of various lengths and circumferences defacing the roads. many of the most important and inner roads are visibly weary and begging for pressing attention from the nation and federal governments. riding on most of the roads is similar to receiving punishment for an offence the motorists in no way dedicated.

normal activities in lagos are each day annoyed with the aid of the sluggish movements, thereby leading to a large loss in productive hours. motorists, specifically the industrial drivers who spoke with the reporter, complained that their automobiles have been now not correctly utilised, thereby plunging them into trouble. they defined the monetary losses as unquantifiable. a number of the citizens’ livelihoods are shriveled because they directly or in a roundabout way depend on the roads for survival.

everywhere you pass in lagos for the time being, except a few regions, the roads are in awful shapes. the scenario is day by day compounded by means of the rainy season, which commonly ends in flooding in many components of the state. the aggrieved commuters as well as citizens curse beneath their breath whenever they ply many roads, asking why the failed portions aren’t quick fixed earlier than they definitely fall apart.

pitiable roads

visits by using the reporter to famous roads and streets like ikorodu, lagos-badagry, lagos-abeokuta, agege motor street, ajah-epe, capitol, apapa (toward iganmu bridge) roads, herbert macaulay, ahmadu bello methods and falomo roundabout found out many sections of the roads to be in sorry kingdom.

within the ikorodu axis, ogolonto-ebute-ipakodo street is an eyesore. several craters take a seat majestically in the center of the street. sagamu street is one that brings tears to the eyes of most motorists. among odogunyan and ikorodu garage, ratings of automobile-unfavorable potholes and craters sit down on the street.

proper now, ijede street can excellent be described as a loss of life entice. the most sickening is eleshin bus forestall, through g&m place. the street has reduce into , unleashing hell on motorists and commuters alike. the spots are shamefully embellished with craters, posing risk to users. it’s miles an tremendous web page for unpalatable testimonies whilst help seems now not in sight.

a resident of ikorodu lamented: “you may pity those folks who stay in ikorodu sincerely due to the terrible roads that dot many sections of the road. at eleshin, commuters and motorists ought to spend a couple of hour at a spot that is much less than a 20-metre stretch.  the loss on the road ordinary is incalculable. on a completely terrible day, you exert more electricity journeying on the road to paintings than the activities you will be engaged in on the place of business.”

on lagos-badagry global direction, the tale is not any better. motorists riding from mile generally kiss good-bye to the easy trip at change truthful area. from barracks, it is a bumpy ride wherein the bodies and souls of passengers dance to unnecessary vibrations generated from the potholes. from volks, iyana-isashi, iyana-ira, agbara, magbon, oko-afor bus stops to badagry roundabouts are nothing but an international show of shame. the road is the gateway main to many west african nations.

the route is famend for gridlocks, in particular throughout the push hours inside the mornings and evenings. on many events, a less-than-30-minutes journey might enlarge to four or greater hours. in such situations, passengers who need to renew on time at their obligation posts are left at the mercy of motorcycle riders to maintain their journey. the riders by no means fail to cash in at the opportunity, and they take pride in charging exorbitant fees. they ply their exchange on the street, treading on the skinny line between existence and dying. warning is a unusual word of their dictionary as they recklessly face oncoming cars and manoeuvre their manner among stuck trailers and tankers.

even though the badagry avenue is present process reconstruction and growth to a 10-lane dual carriageway, residents of the area and different customers of the street have time and again cried to the federal and state governments to make it satisfactory for them. however their prayers are but to get the favored interest.

mr. hilary ogini stated: “these days, an suv ran into one of the horrific sections and tumbled. the motive force sustained primary accidents throughout his frame. if now not for the best samaritans who rushed to the scene to rescue the person who become the lone occupant, he would have died due to the fact he become bleeding profusely as at the time assist came his manner.

“i have misplaced plenty to the street. i stay at oko-afor, which typically could no longer have taken me multiple hour to get to in which l work at mile . unfortunately, i spend a mean of three hours going and some other 3 hours returning home throughout 5 days in a week. it’s miles frustrating and making life miserable for us. the authorities has failed in this region. accurate road is one of the primary necessities that make life enjoyable for human beings everywhere in the global, but our case at the lagos-badagry axis is sour.”

ambode’s orders disregarded?

perturbed by means of the dilapidated country of the roads, and so that it will ameliorate customers’ plight, governor akinwunmi ambode in august ordered the lagos nation public works agency to patch all of the affected areas. but as on the time of submitting this document, less than 30 consistent with cent of the failed quantities have been fixed by means of the business enterprise.

on lagos-abeokuta street, a number of the constant quantities were right now damaged by using vehicles. although the people placed a few skeletal barricades warning drivers to live off the crammed potholes, only some managed to comply.

how bad roads inspire crook sports

armed robbers are a regular chance to harmless souls, specifically at night in a number of the affected regions. it is commonplace for thieves and different miscreants to hide around awful portions of the roads wherein all automobiles expectedly come to a halt.

one prominent spot for incessant robbery operations at the lagos-badagary avenue is the car wash bus prevent. consistent with residents of the place, it is one night time, one robbery. commuters, as accrued, continually get themselves prepared for a possible ambush by means of the criminals. in most instances where there’s a gridlock instantaneous, guys of the underworld appear from their hiding to strike, robbing passengers of their belonging.

at capitol junction and its environs in agege, pickpockets hover round caught automobiles seeking out whom to waylay. like the velocity of lightening, they ruin automobiles’ windows and seize passengers’ property before disappearing.

kola bus forestall on the lagos abeokuta throughway is another vicinity that is infamous for robbery at night. the failed quantities among kola and moshalashi create fertile grounds for the thieves to make existence miserable for commuters and motorists. they perform their operations at will without being challenged by each person.

using in tears

in lagos, all the primary arteries are bothered with risky potholes. it is almost not possible to avoid they all as pretty regularly one preventive manoeuvre regularly leads the driver into yet some other pothole. there were injuries and in a few instances lack of lives and property. it is driving in ache and tears.

trailers and tankers are quite prone. the trailer drivers, as found, frequently do not firmly cozy the boxes they convey, counting on their weight for stability, thereby endangering the lives of other road customers. many of them wobble and tumble on smaller motors, leaving a trail of tears and blood.

commuters are in so much hassle that it is impossible for them to devise a journey or expect an arrival time. in lots of components of lagos, a journey of 20 mins will be completed in three hours, depending on the time of the day.

in step with mr. balogun bamidele, riding on the lagos-badagry freeway is a huge undertaking, a ways from mere driving. he maintained that all people who ought to drive on that route regularly could haven’t any trouble using in every other part of the united states

said he: “lately, l drove to badagry to see my relative. it become hell for me. the complete road is bad. at almost every bus prevent, i needed to be swerving and dodging potholes and almost ramming to other motors. at a factor, i started out to regret why i drove down there due to the fact i spent over n7, 000 to repair my surprise absorber and other faults once I took the vehicle to my mechanic the following day.

“it was so terrible that my seven-12 months-antique daughter requested me why i used to be sweating and murmuring. though such pathetic situations are not strange to the badagry direction, the situation there’s worse. there are many portions that are also terrible on iyana ipaja to agege, but those ones are viable while compared to a few different regions.”

 

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