Road users beg Tinubu to complete Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

USERS of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway have appealed for President Bola Tinubu’s intervention to complete the reconstruction of the 150-kilometre road which started over 12 years ago.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan had flagged off the reconstruction of the road in 2013.

A substantial part of the Ibadan end of the road was abandoned for almost two years only for some skeletal work to be observed there on Friday.

The development is creating fears in the minds of numerous road users on whether the road will be completed before the end of the first tenure of President Tinubu.

The recorded number of crashes on the road has also raised serious concerns among the road users.

Sometime in 2023, over 25 people lost their lives at the Agbowo end of the expressway in Ibadan. Four days ago, a truck loaded with petrol exploded at the same spot. The driver of the truck lost his life while the motor boy is receiving medical attention at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

The recorded accidents, according to the road users, were traceable to diversion of vehicles to the side of the expressway that is dotted with potholes.

The chairman of the commercial taxi drivers (Micra) in Akinyele Local Government Area, Mr Kehinde Lamidi, in an interview with Saturday Tribune, described Ojoo-Iwo road end of the expressway as a death trap.

“Many people have been sent to their early graves due to the deplorable condition of the road as well as the diversion which causes motorists to drive on one-way.

“Three days ago, there was a fatal accident at the Agbowo area. I learnt the driver of one of the trucks lost his life while the motor boy is receiving medical attention at the UCH.

“The deplorable condition of the road has rendered many of our drivers jobless. The cost of maintenance is killing.

“We are appealing to the Federal Government and President Bola Tinubu to come to our aid by ensuring a speedy completion of the project.

“The present administration has started well. Our prayer is that it will end well,” Lamidi said.

A cab driver who identified himself as Alhaji Semiu Adesina said: “The state of the road has made us become habitual callers at various mechanic workshops in the state.

“Hardly will a day pass without fixing our cars. The cost of motor spare parts is skyrocketing on a daily basis.

“We don’t know who to hold responsible for the delay being experienced in the completion of the project, the Federal Government or the contractors? But our request is for the Federal Government to do the needful by ensuring the completion of the project in order to reduce the carnage.”

Also, Mr Bamidele Emmanuel appealed to the Federal Government to expedite action on the completion of the road project.

He said: “At the Iwo Road/Ojoo end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ibadan, crashes are recorded there on a daily basis.

“We are driving on one-way. Most of the truck drivers don’t have respect for drivers of taxis, a reason why that we keep recording accidents daily.

“Not only that, the single lane that we are restricted to because of the ongoing construction works is replete with potholes.

“The contractors, instead of focusing on the road, are busy with the culvert and the median.

“We are tired of the snail’s speed at which the work is going. Today, contractors will mobilise workers to site, tomorrow, they are gone.

“The Federal Government needs to be sensitive to our plight by ensuring a speedy completion of the project.

Another road user and the Managing Director of First Charity Company Limited, Pastor Aderounmu, said: “The present state of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is terrible.

“Former President Goodluck Jonathan awarded the reconstruction of this road in 2013 and up to today, it is yet to be completed.

“Hardly will a day pass without a record of crash on this road, especially between Ibadan Tollgate and the Ojoo end of the road. Three days ago, there was a crash involving three trucks at the Agbowo end of the road. It was fatal.

“Death was recorded while the three affected trucks were burnt to ashes. The accidents are traceable to the deplorable condition of the road. The road needs urgent intervention of the Federal Government”

It was gathered that the on-and-off behaviour of the contractors at the site is attributable to the issue of variations in the project cost.

While the contractors are said to be demanding for an upward review of the project cost, the Federal Government is said to be insisting that such will not happen even though the cost of construction materials has gone up astronomically.

Mr Richard Adeleye, an engineer who supervises the project, is of the Federal Ministry of Works. In a telephone conversation with Saturday Tribune, he said contractors had not moved out of site.

“Contractors are at work on Lagos-Ibadan expressway. You can go there and verify,” he said.

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