Motorists seek urgent rescue of Apapa-Oshodi highway

On Monday, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Desmond Elliot, disclosed how he lost his mother-in-law to the unavailability of a pedestrian bridge at one of the busiest sections of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.

But to many Lagosians who have been forced to spend three hours on a journey that shouldn’t last five minutes on the bad portions of the busy highway, it is a daily agony of precious man-hours lost to government’s barefaced neglect.

It has been an excruciating experience for motorists meandering through the bad portions of the expressway at Ballet/Ilasamaja/Iyana-Itire axis, which has gone terribly bad in the aftermath of recent downpour.

Daily, articulated trucks get stuck or fall on its side in one of the widening craters at the middle of the road. For each incidence, it is more agony for road users, as the breakdown usually leads to a long stretch of chaotic traffic jam.

Chairman of Apapa branch of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Mr. Olalekan Taiwo, has urged the Federal Government to repair the roads, saying the gridlock and deplorable state of road will have an adverse effect on the citizens and the economy.

Another deplorable portion of the road….

“In the past, we used to hear of pot-holes, but today, may be trenches. The state of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway is a huge cause of concern to us because it is daily embarrassing the government. I implore the Minister of Works, Housing and Power, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), to put the road in good condition at the earliest possible time and save a lot of Nigerians the daily trauma,” he said.

Affected motorist, Austin Ejeke, said Nigerians are suffering and being pushed daily to their limit of tolerance by several government actions and inactions.

“The bad spots on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway is one of the reasons why Nigerians desperately seek an end to the drama over 2016 budget, so the Buhari administration can start working and stop blaming the last administration.”

However, there are hopes that the state government will commence palliative measures on the road this month. This is coming on the heels of the promise made by the Chief Executive Officer, Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC), Mr. Ayotunde Sodeinde, who stated that the corporation had started extensive repair works on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.