The Lagos-Abeokuta expressway, a 81-kilometre expressway, linking Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria to Ogun, the gateway state seems to be wearing a new, repackaged and improved look in recent times.
Liberate Nigeria notes that this could be due to the hurry patching of the road executed by the Federal Ministry of Works, to ease tensions experienced by commercial and private motorists and people plying the expressway daily.
Segun, a commercial bus driver on Monday was so excited that he exclaimed that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration is the messiah for Nigeria.
Some passengers on board his bus either lambasted him calling him all sorts of names, while others called to patience with the government.
This is even as his conductor was collecting N1500 for passengers going to Oshiodi, while those going to Iyana Ipaja had to pay N1200.
However, the driver insisted that with the rehabilitation of the expressway, traffic logjams will reduce to the minimal level, as passengers running to and fro the two states will arrive their destinations on record time.
But, investigations carried out by Liberate Nigeria, showed that with the rehabilitation of the expressway successfully done, a new challenge in the form of dust is threatening to blind users of the expressway, if urgent interventions are not done by the government.
From Oshiodi bus-stop along the expressway, some dusty point are observed around Ikeja, Ile-Zik, Iyana Ipaja, Abule Egba, and off course, U-turn, Ijaiye, Moshalasi, Alakuko and up to toll gate.
However, from the toll gate more dusty points at noticed around Sango Ota, Coniol, Joju, Veepee, Owode, Omiyale, Pakoto, Aiyede, Tecno, Vulcaniser, Bungalow, Vestper, Ifo Oja market, and old Bnak bus-stops. along the Ogun axis of the expressway.
Yes, our Correspondent spotted some police officers and FRSC officials stationed alone the expressway at U-turn, opposite the Apostolic Church camp ground near Aiyede, and old bank busstop, but the security officers are more interested in controlling vehicular movement, than think about dusts.
Margret Etim, a trader at Ifo market lamented that she is compelled to use facemask each time she is going to Lagos from Ogun through the expressway, due to the dust.
The views of the trader was also collaborated by Pastor James Odowgu, who appealed to the federal and Ogun State government to come to the rescue. to the users of the expressway, as dust is threatening to blind people.
Anthony Longe, a medical doctor and resident of Gudugba in Ewekoro local government area of Ogun State said excessive dusts are capable of making people go blind, especially those with poor immunity.
Dr Vincent Azubuike Ukeje, a homeopath in Lagos told our correspondent on phone Monday morning that though the government has partially fixed the traffics logjams on the expressway, the government in the spirit of delivering demoracy dividends to the greatest number of people in Nigeria should fix the dusty expressway, even now that the rainy season is unpredictable.
Recall that Wikipedia wrote in 2017 that the Lagos–Abeokuta Expressway is an 81-kilometre-long (50 mi) expressway connecting Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, and Ikeja, the capital of Lagos Stateand Lagos Nigeria’s largest city.[1]
The Lagos – Abeokuta expressway is Nigeria busiest highway, linking metropolitan and greater Lagos, with other Nigerian states.
The expressway is the busiest inter-state and intra-city route in Nigeria handling more than 250,000 PCUs daily and constitutes one of the largest road networks in Africa.[2] It is part of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) projects, concerned with road improvement and connectivity between the States of Nigeria.
In 2017 the Lagos State government planned to develop and construct a BRT lane in the Lagos Abeokuta expressway. The construction and development of the BRT lane will occur in two phases; phase I is from Oshodi to Abule Egba, while phase II runs from Abule Egba to Ota toll gate, which is the boundary between Lagos and Ogun States.[3]
The regulator of the BRT scheme, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), has boasted traffic on the heavily congested Oshodi-Iyana-Ipaja-Abule-Egba route would reduce by 40 percent after the completion of the project.
The passenger estimate on the corridor is about 230,000 per day, but it can reach 300,000.[4][5]
Reconstruction
The reconstruction of the expressway was announced on May 14, 2018, by Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) Minister of Power, Works and Housing of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with the goal of reducing travel time for hundreds of thousands of commuters.
The contract was awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria and Reynolds Construction Company Limited at a sum of ₦22,000,000,000.00, equivalent to $61,380,000.00.
