Indeed, it is sheer agony living in this part of Lagos.
Apart from the regular knotty traffic jam which characterizes the road from the Okota end, stretching all through Isolo/Ikotun axis to Jakande Estate gate which is caused by pot-holes, the Jakande Estate road has become completely impassable.
Going and coming out of the estate daily for residents has become a nightmare as the only road link to it has broken down. It was however manageable until about six months ago when the Ejigbo Local Council development Authority opted to re-surface the road. This development has further complicated movement in and out of the estate.
The road rehabilitation project, which was given to a local contractor, has been abandoned. Meanwhile, a billboard which boldly announces PROMISE FULFILLED, TAX- PAYER’S MONEY AT WORK: Construction of roads and rehabilitation of drainages by Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA) mounted at the entrance of the estate stares at visibly fatigued motorists as they agonizingly wade through the deep gullies and ditches that have characterized the only road leading to Jakande Estate, Oke-Afa and Ejigbo.
The billboard, which ironically sits atop a collapsed drainage, infers that the estate had been given a facelift with newly constructed roads and drainage as visible dividends of democracy. Invariably, too, residents of this utterly neglected area should sing Hallelluya to the government of the day.
While the pace of work has been so slow from the onset of the project, the only drainage system work done is a shoddy job. The imminent collapse is obvious with the passage of any heavy-duty truck
Daily Sun learnt that the Kehinde Bamigbetan-led council authorities had initially given the contract to a company that had, after complaining of inadequate release of funds, abandoned the project. The contractor was said to have been given only N2m for a project worth N15m.
A source close to the former contractor told Daily Sun that since the only fund disbursed to him was a paltry eight hundred thousand naira (N800,000) which didn’t go anywhere in the project, he had to back out. He further revealed that even now, his children and wife daily grapple with insults and harassment from the public because of the failed road rehabilitation
Upon his exit, Daily Sun gathered that the LCDA contracted yet another person. This time, a Mushin-based contractor who was said to be financially rooted enough to continue the seemingly endless project without asking for the initial mobilization fee.
However, in the early days of the project, the contractors had raised what later became false hopes by intermittently heaping mounds of red sand and granite on one side of the road. After six months, the heaps of sand have now been overgrown with weeds while nothing is being done.
Incidentally, this side of the road is the only side in which pedestrians and commercial motorbike operators (okada) riders now struggle to use. The other side, which has been turned into gullies and deep ditches, is being managed by vehicles.
With the unrelenting rains, both sides of the road are totally submerged by flood. Apart from the heavy human and vehicular traffic, greater hardship comes on the road users at night. Motorists gnash their teeth daily as they wade through the difficult terrain. Even inner estate roads are not spared of potholes and are also impassable with flood taking over during and after each downpour
Transportation not only becomes impossible, the few okada riders available charge exorbitant rates, while a few others simply wouldn’t agree to ply the road.
This epileptic road rehabilitation, which stretches from the Estate gate to the first junction, a distance of about 2000 metres, has not been without hiccups.
Some months ago, while artisans who were also contracted to help with the construction of the drainages were at work, tragedy struck. One of the men who was said to have mistakenly dug on an underground electricity cable was instantly electrocuted. This unfortunate incident again halted work. Work has since resumed, but the road has been left worse that it was.
With the current deplorable state of the road, life has become hellish not only for the estate residents, but for people living around Ejigbo, Ikotun and Ijegun areas, with endless traffic build up both in and out of the neighbourhood.
While trekking seems to have become a way of life for the agonizing residents, it is an endless carnival of broken down vehicles. Vehicles continually pack up everywhere and a long stretch of traffic jam is the order of the day.
From the look of things, there seems to be no end in sight to the agonizing experience by people living in the neighbourhood.
Residents who spoke to Daily Sun appeal to the relevant authorities to speed up work on the road and end the residents’ nightmare. Some said that if the contractor knew that he was not capable of doing the job, he shouldn’t have taken it up in the first place
Mrs. Akanni, a schoolteacher, said: “It is obvious that the government has completely abandoned residents of this estate. See how we wade through the gullies and ditches in the name of road. Haven’t we suffered enough or is this what a sensitive government does to its citizens?”
For Mr Goddy Okwe, “life has become so unbearable living in this estate. Maybe, when my rent expires, I will look elsewhere because I can’t continue with this rigour everyday. Meanwhile we pay tax to the government and see the way we have been left to suffer. I can’t continue this way.”
Mrs Rose Okenwa said for the past few months, she has been walking home every night after work from the estate gate to her house because commercial buses are hardly available. “We just hope and pray that Governor Fashola remembers us someday because this level of neglect is ungodly.”
“What have we done to deserve this type of treatment? How have we offended both the state and local governments for them to make us suffer like this? Everyday, we go through hell to get to the main road because of huge potholes. I have repaired my shock absorbers more than three times. I don’t really understand this kind of government I think the government has completely forgotten us,” cried an obviously angry motorist.
A federal civil servant, Mr. Oraguncha, couldn’t hide his anger. “It is like hell living here,” he fumed. “Everywhere is bad in this estate. The road leading into the estate and all other roads inside the estate are death traps, yet the government pretends not to know that we are suffering. What are they doing? Tomorrow, they will come asking us to vote for them. They should be ashamed of themselves. They have failed us. Despite being heavily taxed, we are left to suffer like this. What is the taxpayers’ money used for? Is it flood and bad roads that the taxpayers’ money is used for? I don’t believe them anymore. This government is a lip-service-oriented government.”
Chairman, Ejigbo Local Council Development Authority, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan was not available for comments when Daily Sun visited his office. A source close to him, however, said that work would resume on the road as soon as the rains abate.
source:sun
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