Anguish trails Iyana-Ejigbo unending nightmare 

Iyana Ejigbo has lately become bad news to road users plying the busy Isolo-Ejigbo-Ikotun road. The state of the gully at the intersection surrounded by a busy market, widens and deepens by the second, leaving stranded commuters with no option than rain swear words of government officials neglecting the eyesore to fester.

The burden of the bad road bestowing untold hardship to business owners, commuters, residents and motorists in the axis, cannot be quantified. Commuters coming from Jakande Gate/NNPC to Ikotun and vice versa are stranded at the spot for about an hour on a passage that should not take more than five minutes.

Those residing in Ejigbo, Ikotun and environs, who ply through the Ejigbo-Ikotun road daily, have had to spend several hours in choking traffic and the fear of getting their vehicles damaged in the big potholes constituting a death trap to motorists.

The Guardian observed that many businesses and shops along the corridor have remained shut due to the bad situation, swelling the frustration and depression of those affected. From morning till night, the story is the same – a tale of woes and neglect, which worsens with every little downpour.

The scanty businesses that are barely surviving and braving the odds to open are overwhelmed with smelly floodwater, which makes it nearly impossible for any customer to wade through the pool in order to purchase any goods.

Despite the outcry of residents, past governments have not been able to provide a lasting solution to the problem of potholes and blocked drainage at the Iyana Ejigbo spot.

Unfortunately, the sad tale had been in existence since the administration of former governor Babatunde Fashola, which was in turn passed down to former governor Akinwunmi Ambode. Ambode, who made an unscheduled visit to the spot in the first year of his administration, had promised to end the intractable problem.

Months later, he delivered with a rehabilitation of the road and an expanded drainage from Iyana Ejigbo through Ile-Epo bus-stop to Ori-Oke bus-stop, to solve the problem of incessant flood in the area. But that effort too was short-lived as the intersection has completely collapsed, while the root cause of the problem, proper drainage channel through the market serving as obstruction, has not been tackled.

Speaking with our correspondent, a road user simply known as Ikechukwu lamented the situation, calling for an urgent and lasting intervention. He said: “The road linking Ikotun and Oke-Afa has now become the major reason for traffic in that axis; it is sad how people spend hours on a journey that shouldn’t take more than five minutes.”

Also speaking, one of the victims whose businesses have been crippled by the bad road, Emeka Michael, said government is not serious about fixing the road.
According to him, the only way the problem can be resolved is if the water is channeled through the Ejigbo market.

“My boss settled me in Ejigbo with this business and I have been here for more than 15 years. The situation of this place makes me cry and it is getting worse by the day. It would be a great relief if eventually the road is fixed. I believe there are some people who do not want something to be done about it because they are benefiting from it.

“What I heard is that the Oba of this community is behind the suffering that many businesses in this neighborhood are facing. They are supposed to channel the water to go through the market, but they channelled it to the canal at Ile Epo and that place is an uphill route. The water cannot move freely. And water cannot mix too long with concrete, so the road keeps damaging.

“Regardless of the sufferings that many businesses are facing in this environment, we are still paying tax, lockup charges. If they channel the water to the right place, which is the market, all these sufferings would stop.”