Residents, students protest against deplorable Lagos-Badagry expressway

It was a sad tale yesterday for many Lagosians as the early morning rain wrecked havoc in the state causing buildings collapse; fallen poles with many cars destroyed as flood sacked houses and destroyed property. Commuters were not left out, as they groan over the gridlock caused by the downpour. Many roads were submerged in flood, and activities were put to halt in the nation’s capital for several hours.

In a tweet by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), it was discovered that no fewer than two building collapsed due to the heavy rainfall. The buildings are located at Abule Egba and Ladipo bus-stop in Oshodi. According to the agency, no victims were trapped and the affected structures were condoned off.

“We are responding to two collapsed building incidents in Abule Egba and Oshodi. Please stay safe out there! On getting to Ladipo, Oshodi, it was discovered that no victims were trapped so the building and the affected roofing were cordoned off. A building consisting of four rooms built on the fence of house 13 Erinjiyan Drive, off Alhaja Mulika Street, had collapsed due to the heavy rain. No update on casualties yet.”

Meanwhile, thousands of Badagry residents and students of tertiary institutions defied the heavy rainfall to protest against the deplorable state of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, describing it as a road of anguish and pain. Residents blocked the popular Badagry roundabout for hours earlier in the day.

They stormed the roundabout with placards bearing various inscriptions such as: “Fix Lagos/Badagry Expressway. Our businesses are dying’’; “Bad Road, Our pregnant women are having miscarriages’’; and “We are not at war, Remove checkpoints on our road’’; “We are losing man hours.’’

Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, the president, Women Arise Initiative, who led the protest, said the road had become a route of anguish and pain. “We are in the rain today not because we like it, but because we want to make some demands; we are moving from Badagry to Mile 2. We are here because the Lagos-Badagry Expressroad has continued to serve as a route of anguish and pain; the state of the road is deplorable.

“We are seeing our economy ruined, we have seen women having still births; we have seen our road becoming a route to the hospital and the mortuary, the time has come for us to rise up in unity. Time has come for us to demand that the government should fix the Lagos-Badagry road; we are here to demand that the road that leads to the economic hub of the ECOWAS sub-region be fixed. It is an eyesore that should not continue. We have endured this for a very long time, and tourism in Badagry is now at its lowest ebb; we know the concession started in 2009 and many years after the road was awarded, nothing serious has been done about it,’’ she lamented.