FESTAC Town, Lagos, was once the pride of West Africa, a model estate, meticulously designed, with infrastructure that reflected its lofty promise. Decades on, however, the cracks are plainly visible; collapsed drainage systems, roads undermined by neglect, and communities made to navigate daily chaos.
Against this backdrop, the Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority’s (FHA), Oyetunde Ojo, during the week commissioned a reconstructed gate and partially repaired First Avenue Road.
For many residents, the cutting was not a marker of progress but a reminder that many of Festac’s structural ills and facility decay and that what is celebrated is more symbolic than substantive.
They stated that at a timewhen many of the estate’s roads are riddled with potholes and its drainage systems are failing, rather than being a hallmark of progress, the gate commission to them is a misplaced priority, especially as a ceremony was organised to celebrate the commissioning.
They noted that the MD of FHA is celebrating the reconstruction of a gate and patched roads when many of Festac access roads are barely passable.
The residents said how can a community claim pride in a gate, while its roads and drainages lie in ruin.
A resident, John Adebola, said: “It’s shameful that the management of FHA organised a ceremony to commission a gate and First Avenue road that was patched at different sections. Is it not the same First Avenue Road that I drove on this morning that I ran into several potholes. What’s more urgent: a fancy gate or fixing what makes life miserable daily?”
Adebola maintained that the road will have no impact on securing the estate, stating that if the FHA management were serious, it should have reconstructed the Festac First gate along with that of second and third gates in Agboju and Alakija.
“Even if the other gates are constructed, people can still access festac through the festac link bridge.”
Another resident, Emeka Obinna, stated that many Festac residents are surely not happy with the state of the road, especially those who have cars.
“As a FESTAC resident, it affects my movement, affects my finances, as I have to visit the mechanic to fix my car due to the negative impact of the bad roads. So, I am surprised that in the face of this huge infrastructure deficit, the MD of FHA is organising a ceremony of ribbon cutting to commission a gate and First Avenue Road that were repaired at different sections. Even after the repairs, there are still potholes, yet the same road was commissioned. It just shows we are not serious people. You can’t even dodge these potholes anymore; they are everywhere,” he said.
Similarly, another Festac resident, Chijioke Iremeka, said some parts of First Avenue Road have indeed been patched, but the road remains in terrible condition.
“Let me start with the first gate he claimed was repaired. Immediately after entering the gate from the expressroad, you will notice potholes right before the short interlocked section opposite a logistics company.
“First Avenue has not been resurfaced or tarred in years. Go straight to the area around Heaven Hotels and Rumour Hall, you will see that the road hasn’t even been patched, let alone reconstructed. The entire stretch from there to Benny Hotels and onward to the 6th Avenue bridge is still partially in poor condition.
“I believe the MD is acting based on information fed to him by sycophants, if he even received such information at all. The only portion that could be said to have been interlocked is on the stretch from 6th Avenue leading toward the first gate. This is a small section, just a few poles from the 4th Avenue junction by First Avenue, running past Radiance Schools and stopping after the Catholic Church junction (12 Road).
“However, both sides of that road leading to the junction at 21 Road are still in bad shape. So I can confidently say that the MD does not know what he is talking about. Furthermore, there are roads in Festac in worse condition than First Avenue that deserve urgent attention. As it stands, Festac practically has no motorable roads. The entire length of 2nd Avenue is horrible from start to finish, no exaggeration.
“It was only during the local government elections that they poured boulders and pebbles over the impassable sections near Alakija, which had been abandoned for months.
The same applies to 7th Avenue, 4th Avenue, and 71 Road; these are major connecting roads in Festac, yet none is truly passable. It takes me over 20 minutes just to get from my apartment on 7th Avenue to my church on First Avenue. Why? This is because the roads are so bad, they’re almost impassable. Mind you, I am using a 4-wheel drive jeep, so you can imagine what it does to smaller vehicles. In fact, it baffles me that not even the two police stations in Festac and the Immigration office at Third Avenue made them fix the roads.
“And to make matters worse, because of the MD’s arrival, his team went around targeting and destroying people’s livelihoods as if citizens were to blame for the poor infrastructure in the FESTAC and governance in Nigeria. They should tell the MD to simply tour or drive on Festac roads to see the level of decay,” Iremeka said.
