Pedestrian bridge turns love nest at Oke-Odo

AS lovers across the world celebrate Valentine’s Day yesterday, a strange development at a pedestrian bridge on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway is giving residents a cause for concern.

Young men and women have strangely found the pedestrian bridge at the Ile-Epo bus-stop as a love nest, a situation that is discouraging many pedestrians from utilizing the bridge and taking the risk of dashing across the road.

Many of those who spoke to The Guardian said the facility had been converted into a meeting spot for lovers, who use the bridge as a rendezvous of some sort, while hoodlums in the area have also taken advantage of the location of the bridge to perpetrate acts of illegality on pedestrians.

Mrs. Adebimpe Adeoye, a businesswoman, said she is caught between a tough choice of risking her life or avoiding the bridge because of the acts of immorality being perpetrated by the itinerant lovers on the bridge. “When I leave my shop everyday, I pass through the bridge with my children. I do not want my children to learn bad things from what they see these young girls and boys do on the bridge.

“And it is also a big risk for me to take my children across the express because of fast moving vehicles there. Government has given us the bridge to save our lives, they also need to intensify their surveillance in this area especially at night,” she said.

This development is coming on the heels of government’s decision to fully enforce the state’s traffic laws with the introduction of mobile courts to try traffic offenders, which include Lagosians crossing the road instead of using the pedestrian bridge.

According to the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), over 7,000 persons have been arrested for crossing the road instead of using the pedestrian bridge. The agency’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Tunde Olusesi, told newsmen that up to 30 defaulters are arrested daily in several parts of the state.

“Pedestrian bridges are built to save lives, people should try and protect themselves by using the pedestrian bridge. KAI officials will continue to arrest erring members of the public until they imbibe the act of using the pedestrian bridge that was constructed for their safety,” he said.