The
other day, I was picked up at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport by a
car hire company retained by my organization.
As we waded through the terrible night traffic of Lagos through bumpy
roads and un-tarred side streets to get home, the driver wondered aloud, “this
government in Lagos is only making noise of making Lagos a mega city. Where is the mega city without roads?
This
got me thinking. Mega City without roads. It is interesting that about forty years ago,
we built several flyovers and dual carriageways in Lagos in response to the
upsurge of traffic brought about by the affluence of oil money and windfalls. Some time ago, there were already too much
vehicular and human traffic in Lagos that the odd and even number system was
made a policy and enforced. During the
enforcement more than thirty years ago, many families bought second, third and
possibly fourth vehicles to ensure that they are on the road everyday with
their vehicles. The government and
people of this country then and many of those in government now were witnesses
to these state affairs which meant that any programme that fails to increase
the number of roads and overhead bridges in controlling Lagos traffic would fail.
In
the 1970s, the fact that we have to move away from Lagos for the purpose of
creating a saner capital city and dwelling for our teaming population was
already conceived leading to the moving of the Federal Capital to Abuja. Forty
plus odd years later, we did not think again to know that we needed to have
created four more cities with the capacity of Lagos and Abuja in the other
geopolitical zones of the country.
In
the last twenty years, millions of people working in Lagos State have moved
into neighbouring States to build their own homes or to rent living apartments. More than twenty years of such demographic
activity have not roused the neighbouring states to Lagos of Ogun, Ondo and
nearby Oyo State to increase their infrastructural development in the area of
roads, electricity and water supply along their borders to absorb this
pressuring population on Lagos.
I
recently acquired a Garmin® to enable to navigate cities in West African. Being
new in Lagos, I had real need for this GPS instrument in Lagos as I need it in
Abidjan to be able to find my way around.
What I discovered is that only a small part of Lagos is covered by the
Satellite mapping. A large number of
estates and development areas created since the last twenty years were not in
the system.
The
Lagos State Government is probably busy priding itself in the building of such
development areas as the Banana Island and the Eko Atlantic City. The immorality of the fact that property in
these areas are paid for in American dollars flies in the face of all that is
sane. Banana Island and Eko Atlantic
City are not development needed in a place like Lagos.
Lagos
State estimated to have over twenty million people in it already has a mega
city population. What it lacks so
terribly is a mega city type of infrastructures such as roads, overhead
bridges, good trail, air, road and sea transportation.
It
is criminal to use the huge taxes collected in Lagos and Federal Allocation to
patch roads and keep some roads in endless repair or reconstruction process and
stage for five to nine years without finishing even a kilometer.
Governor
Fashola has done so much more than previous administration since Lagos lost the
Federal capital status to build up the city.
However, the Lagos State Governor has been more in propaganda populism
than he has done in concrete terms in bringing Lagos where it out to be.
Lagos
State road infrastructure is totally obsolete.
Massive road construction and the building of overhead bridges is the
only way to help Lagos. Key places where
the need for overhead bridges is begging for attention are but not limited to:
- · Old Abeokuta Road/Charity Road (New Oko Oba)
- · Abule Egba Junction
- · Agege Motor Road
- · Pen Cinema/Old Abeokuta Road/Railway Line
- · Pen Cinema/Iju Road
- · Several Spots on Iju Road
- · Awolowo Road/Allen/Aromire Junction
- · Opebi/Allen/Toyin Roundabout
- · Mobolaji Bank Anthony/Opebi Link Road/GRA (Joel Ogunlana Street)
- · Domestic Airport Road Roundabout
- · Badagry Road (Several spots)
To
mention but a few.
To
make a Lagos a Mega City is a task that must be done.
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