Marshy, Dusty Journey On Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway

July 11, 2020June 9, 2021 Stan

Emeka Nwosu is a 35-year-old Nigerian. He deals in fairly used clothes business. In this part of the world, people call it okrika business.

The young man says he is almost developing high blood pressure. He may be right, he may be wrong, I do not know.

But, why the high blood pressure? I dare asked him the other day.

Well, the fairly used clothes dealer lives in Ifo, Ogun state, Nigeria. But, he shuttles every day to kotangowa market, situated at super bustop in Lagos.

Truth is that the market is a popular meeting point, where sellers and traders meet daily to deal in all sorts of used items dumped into my beloved country.

Call it tokunbo or dumping market and you may not be wrong. God bless Nigeria, my beloved country.

Emeka also explained that he wakes up at about 5 am, Monday to Saturday, board the next available bus from Ifo inward Lagos, along the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway.

At Owode, Iyana-Olopo busstops, along the expressway, the storyline line could change, on both sides, as motorists, could remain standstill or go-slow for hours.

Thousands of Emekas plying the route could be so frustrated that some of them may be forced to get down from the bus and board cyclists to cross over.

Others may abuse government to high heavens for subjecting to hardships, poverty.

But, please note that Julius Berger, the construction giant, is presently reconstructing the expressway from Zik busstop in Lagos to Km 60, at the cost of N22.39billion. The contract was awarded to the company, May, 14, 2014.

When it rains, the entire route becomes marshy and people, buses, cyclists, and keke marwa operators, etc, either get stuck at the busstops or walk through the marshy grounds.

When the sunshine shines to high heavens, it is a different ball game as people and motorists will have to cover their eyes and noses for fear of dust. Blindness or cataract begins here.

Victoria Monday, a confidential secretary, resident in Ewekoro and working in Lagos, is one of the thousands of persons that do not find travelling on that route daily, funny.

The marshy and dusty nature of the route has almost compelled me to resign my appointment and take up farming, she told this writer.

Jamiu, a commercial bus driver, is however grateful for the hell on earth, people and motorists are passing through along the route, daily.

We made lots of money when it rains, as we will increase the transport fares.

Checks revealed that from Ogun state to Lagos, along the expressway, depending on the point on entry, bus conductors could collect N500 to N1000 from each passenger, under the guise that it is raining.

But, take it or leave it, the stand still, go-slow, stress, hold-up, increase in transport fares, marshy grounds, dusty routes, etc, are all experiences we have to pass through at this point in time to get to the promised land eventually.

None of us can escape it. None of us should condemn or rubbish the government of President Muhammed Buhari for attempting to re-construct an expressway that has been abandoned for years.

I travelled that route four times this week and I discovered that Julius Berger has readjusted the route in order to ease the burden of people and motorists.

I am optimistic that we will soon move from hell to heaven as far as the issues of re-constructing the expressway is concerned. Continue to pray and meditate for Nigeria.