Commuters and drivers plying the ever busy Lagos Ibadan Expressway have flayed the federal government over the delay being experienced in the completion of the over fifteen years project just as construction work was temporarily put on hold at the weekend to allow for pleasurable driving experience for holiday makers returning to their destinations after the Christmas break.
The federal controller of works Lagos state, Umaru Bakare disclosed that the decision was premised on the gradual building of traffic gridlock on the expressway, adding that the ministry had to supervise the removal of crash barriers on the highway on the Kara section to allow for free flow traffic for those returning to their base after festive holiday.
But a commercial bus driver who gave his name simply as Kunle, recalled the ordeal passengers and commuters suffered on daily basis consequent upon the on going project, and wonder if it would take the federal government eternity to complete.
According to him, drivers are exposed to all sort of dangers and unnecessary harassments on daily basis from the police, traffic officers and even highway thieves on the expressway.
A commuter in an Onitsha bond commercial bus who identified herself as madam Philomina Adigwe, noted that travellers plying the Lagos Ibadan Expressway on daily basis must be experiencing mental torture due mainly to the lose of man hours they suffered on the traffic gridlock, particularly at the Kara section of the road.
While narrating her ordeal to The diplomat, Madam Adigwe disclosed that she was a victim of traffic thieves penultimate week ago on her journey to the village as some unknown hagard looking boys, forcefully took away her telephone hand set in a broad daylight while the boarded vehicle was trapped in the traffic snarl.
She posited that it would have been better for the federal government to complete the project and allow the road users to bear the brunt once and for all rather than this idea of temporary relief that seems like postponement of doomsday.
Theophilus Adetiba who resides at Mowe, Ibafo, a sub in the Lagos Ibadan Expressway, said that the federal government was not being sincere on the true status of the project, adding that this opening and closing of road tactics would also imply that the humongous amount of money budgeted for the project may have gone the Nigeria way.
He recalled with pain the torture residents in the area are being subjected to due to the on going project which have lasted well over two decades, adding that it’s almost taking forever to complete the project.
Adetiba disclosed that project have already exposed residents in the area, drivers and other road users to to mental torture and physical aggression, adding that the ugly development has turned the expressway into a hub for traffic thieves and home for hoodlums.
It would be recalled that the federal government announced March this year aa completion date for the project, particularly the section of the Lagos Ibadan that stretches from Ojota in Lagos state to the Sagamu inter change in Ogun state.
