Recently, the Gover-
nor of Lagos State
Jide Sanwo-Olu
announced a state of
emergency on Lagos
roads. The intent is to com-
mence a full scale repair of the
dilapidated road networks across
the state. There is no doubt
that the decaying infrastruc-
ture in Lagos State that prides
itself as the centre of excellence
has taken its worst turn in the
recent times. Lagos residents
and visitors alike groan over the
bumpy roads and life threaten-
ing ride they are daily subjected
to on these failed roads and the
precious man-hour lost in the
process.
The past few months have truly
been unduly hectic for Lago-
sians. Virtually all parts of the
state are plagued daily with
heavy gridlocks that have made
movements across the state vir-
tually impossible. Journey from
one end to another that ordinary
should not last more than thirty
minutes linger for hours unend-
ing.
It has become a national em-
barrassment to say the least
that even international me-
dia organizations such as the
CNN beamed the sorry state of
Nigeria’s infrastructure to the
international community to
mock and spite us as an unse-
rious nation despite the huge
resources government claims to
have spent in rehabilitating bad
roads that cut across the geopo-
litical zones. From the North to
the South nothing seems to have
changed for the better.
While we applaud the initiative
of the governor to commence
immediate rehabilitation of the
roads in the state, we also need to
reiterate the need for a good job
to be done. In the first instance,
efforts must be made to identify
all the road networks in the state
that really needs urgent attention.
Beyond the popular routes, most
inner roads are in terrible state of
disrepute. Take for instance, the
Ikorodu axis of the state, leading
to Lagos State Polytechnic and
Odogunyan axis. It is a dead trap.
The Ogolonto axis, lgbogbo, Baye-
ku, Oreta, Offin and environs are
crying for urgent attention.
We believe strongly that in at-
tempts to repair these roads, there
should be high quality control
measures to ensure that due dili-
gence is deployed by the construc-
tion companies. There should be
no cutting down of unnecessary
cost items or use of inferior
materials as have been the case in
previous years. Also, there should
be regular maintenances of these
roads to prevent a situation where
they constitute the type of public
menace they have become.
The Sanwo-Olu government
should sit up to its responsibilities
and stop commercial drivers from
exploiting Lagos residents, repair
the roads and speed up work
on the flyovers, particularly the
Agege Pen Cinema flyer over and
Badagry-Lagos mono-rail project.
The coastal transportation needs
to be improved to help decon-
gest the city of the heavy vehicu-
lar traffic experienced every day.
