Toyota-Airport link bridge project: Hoodlums capitalise on delay to extort motorists

• Asphalting will be completed this week, says Federal Controller

Following delay by the contractor handling the rehabilitation of Toyota-Murtala Mohammed airport road link road, Hitech, street urchins have taken over the road to extort motorists who are connecting to the airport road from Mile 2.

The hoodlums often lurk around, especially during weekends, when construction workers are not on site to open the barriers for motorists who do not want to take the alternative route, which is far.

They often remove the barriers and beckon motorists to use the bridge, even when there is still a ditch on it. The young men numbering about 15 and in two groups resume at the road by 6:00p.m. to demand money from motorists connecting to the airport road.

After leaving the first spot, motorists must also pay the second group before being allowed to go through. They charge motorists between N100 and N200 to navigate through.

Those who refuse to pay are harassed and often have their vehicles damaged, while motorists who are not aware of the closure of the road are threatened to part with their money.

A motorist, Kingsley Odinaka, who was forced to pay N1,000 at the spot on Sunday said he was not aware of the closure as there was no formal announcement and was rushing to pick a relative at the airport when he was accosted by the hoodlums.

According to him, he gave them N1,000 for easy passage and out of fear of attack or damage to his vehicle. He said: “ Immediately, I paid, they opened the barrier and ushered me to the part where they laid some planks for easier passage since the asphalt was yet to be laid.

“There are other motorists, who were arguing with them and they were threatening to damage their vehicles as they were in their numbers without police presence.”

Another motorist complained that there was no information regarding the work as they just woke up one day to see the road closed without information on the duration of the job and other vital information.

“Since the rehabilitation started more than two weeks ago, motorists going to the airport road and environ from Mile-2 have to drive to Anthony village or Gbagada to connect to Oshodi, a journey that should take less than 10 minutes when the road was open.

“Not only does Hitech abandon the site on weekends, the construction firm also stays off the area on some days within the week. For instance, the workers mostly resume duty around 10:00a.m. and would often leave the site on or before 5:00p.m. as if they were civil servants.

Reacting to the development, Federal Controller of Works, Lagos, Umar Bakare, a engineer, said the delay was caused by the need to put kerbs on the road before asphalting.

He noted that fixing of the kerbs was completed last week and asphalting will start soon. He assured motorists that the road would be opened to traffic by the end of the week.