For many residents, commuters and motorists who ply the Mosalasi–Mushin section of Agege Motor Road daily, navigating the route has become an increasingly frustrating and exhausting experience. What should ordinarily be a routine journey to work, school, business or other daily engagements has turned into a struggle against potholes, damaged road surfaces and the constant fear of vehicle breakdowns or accidents. From motorists forced to manoeuvre dangerously to pedestrians struggling to find safe passage, the deteriorating condition of the road has imposed untold hardship on motorists and commuters.

The road is riddled with potholes, broken surfaces, and stagnant pools of water. The worst hit is the Mosalasi area of the road where a section of the road inward Mushin has become impassable for motorists forcing drivers to drive against traffic using the other land of the road. In that section, there are varied sizes of potholes and craters dotting the road. It was learnt this has been the case in the last three years with motorists and commuters living with the pains and trauma of riding daily on a deplorable road.

A resident, Animashaun Olalekan, said the Mosalasi section of the road is in bad condition start from Mosalasi to Ogunmokun Junction for about over two years now.

Also, Bankole Jimoh, said that the traffic he experienced navigating through the road a couple of night was crazy as a result of the bad condition of the road. According to him, government has failed Lagos residents in all ramifications.

“Can anybody point to at least sections of the entire stretch of the road without potholes and galloping from beginning to the end of those roads.”

Similarly, Abayomi Adekunle said driving through the corridor has contributed to his regular visits to his mechanic to fix his bus, as the bad road has exposed his car to damage, thereby increasing his maintenance costs. He added that the traffic around the area mostly peak periods sometimes can be terrible as a result of the state of the road.

On his part, Lawal Adeshina, noted that the road has always been like that for some years, stating that after being patched, in few months, the road becomes deplorable again.

“The market close to the road and indiscriminate refuse dumping has been a major challenge here. No matter how the drainage is cleared, they will get it clogged in few months and water will start staying on the road again.”

Another resident, Mr. Ayodeji Edidi, wondered what the state and local governments are doing with improved revenue that they are allowing roads across the state to become terrible.

“The first thing I want to say is that it is high time Federal Government returns back all these major roads to the state government. In fairness, that road is not a state road. It is a Federal Government road. But with the advent of giving these state governors and local councils getting more money, the federal government gives back some roads to state governments to manage. It is not only that road, there are so many roads around that are in deplorable states.

“The road is bad and one would have expected that the state government should have come to the aid of the Federal Government that is in Abuja, far away from the scene and people bearing brunt. This is because the road is a major one that is in the heart of the city and it is impassable, it is unheard of.”

He said that when going out, he often bypass the section of the road to avoid getting inflicted with pains using the road. “I have to bypass that road. Even though I live within the area, most of the time, I would rather go through alternative route that is longer. I would rather go through Itire Road or Fasoro.”

He called on the Federal Government to reclassify some roads especially as Lagos is no longer the federal capital.

“We can understand the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as a trunk a road, but all these inter locality routes still being classified as federal roads should be reclassified. When the Federal Government constructed all these roads, it was for its own good, now they have gone. So we should go back and start reclassifying the roads and give them to states. They are getting more money. They should do it.”