ON Monday, four persons died while five others sustained injuries in an accident involving a Toyota Sienna space bus and a truck at the old toll gate, Ogere, on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. Giving journalists an update on the incident in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr. Ahmed Umar, said that the accident occurred at about 3:22 p.m. and was caused by speeding and loss of control by the driver of the Toyota Sienna, who ran into the truck while it was in reverse mode on the expressway. Umar added that the injured victims were taken to Victory Hospital, Ogere for treatment while the deceased were deposited at the FOS Morgue, Ipara. He advised motorists to use a ‘commonsense’ speed limit, especially during the rainy season when visibility is always poor. Penultimate week, 11 persons were burnt beyond recognition in multiple crashes that occurred on Isara bridge in the Ogere area. The accident involving three vehicles was also attributed to excessive speeding and dangerous driving by the FRSC.
In case the government needs any reminding, accidents on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway have become routine, leading to loss of lives at an alrming rate. If vehicles are not running into one another, they are somersaulting and veering off the road in horrible incidents. Petrol tankers explode at will, destroying everything in sight and causing endless gridlocks. The pictures of road users burnt beyond recognition or damaged for life following tanker explosions are usually gory and infinitely disturbing. Sadly, it seems that the more Nigerians lament the carnage on the road, the worse and much more gruesome it becomes. The loss of human life has become so routine on the road that the tales of sorrow emanating from it no longer elicit the kind of emotion that ordinarily attends tragic incidents. It is as if both the government and Nigerians have given up on the situation. This is, to say the very least, a terrible state of affairs. And it is reflective of the utter lack of leadership that Nigerians have come to accept as a feature of daily life.
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Because the question of speeding has become recurrent, it is necessary to ask where law enforcement has been all along. If violators of traffic regulations on the road got their comeuppance as dictated by the statute books, things certainly would not be as bad as they are now. Besides, if anything, the increasing number of accidents on the expressway should call attention to the undue length of time it is taking the government to complete it. To be sure, we are not saying that accidents would not occur if the road had been completed long before now, but it is true that the country would not have as many accidents as are occurring now. The present state of affairs is largely a reflection of the dangers and hiccups occasioned by unending work on the road by contractors. And this is quite reflective of the government’s lack of seriousness. Nigerians would recall that in January 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari restated, for the umpteenth time, his administration’s commitment to expediting action on the rehabilitation and repair of a number of major highways across the six geopolitical zones of the country. Curiously, however, he was silent on the 127.6 km Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Nigeria’s busiest road and the major route linking Lagos, the country’s commercial nerve centre, to other parts.
Prior to Buhari’s broadcast, the project had generated controversy between the Federal Government and the Senate in the face of public agitations and outrage over the continued delay in its completion. Its initial budget was slashed by the National Assembly from N31 billion to a meagre N10 billion and the muscle-flexing between the two arms of government necessitated a budget virement proposal. In September 2017, the Federal Government said continuation of work on the road depended on the budget virement proposal pending before the National Assembly. Sadly, the road remains uncompleted five years later even as Nigerians get treated to a salad of hollow promises. Till today, our observation that the road’s fate is due to political intrigues and sheer lack of will has not been disproved. And the corollaries have been devastating and tragic. Any government that cannot complete a 127.6 km road in over two decades has no right to claim seriousness.
The government must hasten the completion of the road to prevent further accidents and loss of life and property. The reconstruction of the road has been going on for decades and this does not show a sense of seriousness and dedication on the part of the government. We believe that the sheer number of people using the road and its linking of the rest of the country to the most strategic ports should make it of utmost importance to quickly complete it and save users from further hassles and accidents.
and then