The dismal state of the Sango-Ota end of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway in Ogun State has continued to exacerbate the plight of local residents and business owners.
According to The PUNCH, a visit to the road by one of their correspondent showed the deplorable condition of the road.
It was difficult for drivers and commuters to navigate the road.
After crossing the Sango-Ota Bridge and heading toward Ifo, a nearly three-kilometre stretch of Joju was abandoned.
There were numerous huge water-filled potholes in the road.
Due to oncoming traffic, both trucks and cars were forced to merge into the other lane; however, at the Igbala end of the road, they were able to merge back into their own lane.
The high volume of traffic in the axis has caused some drivers to express concern that the available lane may soon become destroyed.
It was also a similar sight at the Toll Gate end of the road, where the lane connecting motorists from Alakuko inward Ogun State, had also been abandoned.
Only a few vehicles were seen meandering through the section of the road ridden with potholes.
A gully lodged with water could also be seen at the end of the axis.
Most of the motorists resorted to plying one way, including a police patrol van.
It was also learnt that the vehicles driving against traffic had knocked down commuters several times.
The deplorable condition of the road had also become an avenue for street urchins to extort money from commercial drivers.
Checks by our correspondent revealed that the road had paralysed economic activities in the area.
At least two filling stations and some other business outlets along the axis were shut down.
A business owner, Abdullahi Sanusi, said, “We are tired of complaining. Almost all the businesses on this side of the road have been paralysed. We are only living by God’s grace. As you can see, I sell tiles, but my customers rarely patronise me these days. They prefer to buy somewhere close to their area whenever they think of the stress of coming here.”
A trader, Afolabi Lawal, who sells plank at a sawmill close to the Joju end of the road, said he had been experiencing low patronage.
He said, “Our sales have reduced in the past few months since the road got worse. There was a time vehicles were still managing the road, but not any longer since their vehicles started to break down.”
Motorists also complained bitterly about how the road had damaged their vehicles.
The supervisor in charge of the Lagos-Toll Gate section of the road, Wale Adebote, said the Federal Government had not abandoned the road.
He said, “We are coming back to the road. The problem we have in that area is that every space of land has been sold. Everywhere is fully developed and the water accumulated on that axis comes to the lowest point. But a redesign has been undertaken to take care of that problem. The contractor has been moved out of site, but they will soon come back. We aim to deliver the road by the end of the year, and that is what we are working on.”
