Uncompleted road projects make life unbearable for residents
By Simeon Mpamugoh
During the April, 2015 elections, candidates from different political parties visited some remote areas of Lagos communities soliciting votes from the people. Today, the elections are over, and the lucky winners are already in their offices.
For residents of Bashua community in Somolu Local Government Area of Lagos State, nothing has changed in their community, in spite of the many promises made by the politicians. To this end, the people are tasking Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, and Executive Secretary of the local government, Hon Abiodun Orekoya to complete the Bolajiomupo Road project, which was initiated by former governor of the state, Mr. Babatunde Fashola –now Minister of Works, Power and Housing –before starting fresh ones.
A visit by this reporter to the community revealed that residents are struggling with challenges, including roads and security. “The roads are bad. The situation became compounded by the number of abandoned cars parked along the roads,” one of the residents of the community who craved anonymity claimed.
He recalled: “There was a day robbers invaded the community and collected phones and electronic gadgets. These were happening because the roads were bad; there is no packing space and vehicular movements have been grossly affected. And a lot of families have been deprived of their source of livelihood as a result of the abandoned road projects. Those who cannot rob have been turned to beggars.”
Chairman, Bashua Community Development Association (CDA), High Chief Oluwole Modupe also informed the reporter: “Some of the residents now park by the side of the road because the uncompleted drainage on Bolajiomupo has blocked the entrance to their houses where some of them hitherto, parked before the commencement of construction works.
“There are also the challenges of planning. The roads were planned on 50x100m width and when houses were built on such measurement, there is no doubt the occupants would be left with little or no parking space, except a situation where the house is occupied by people with few cars. Even though they want to park, the contractor behind the construction has levelled the entrance to their houses,” she said.
She maintained that the planning was poorly executed. Her words: “If it is a building, for instance, with four flats and every occupant has a car, it would be difficult to park in the compound and this is where the occupants see parking by the roadside as a sort of help in dealing with the problem and this is causing sales glut on businesses around the area. Customers prefer going to the Island to Bashua for their purchases owing to lack of parking space.”
The community leader said the situation has created chaos in the community, noting that the streets have been taken over by cars, with some either abandoned or parked by residents whose frontage has been levelled by the ongoing construction work. He said many residents could no longer drive into their compounds.
“But the government has promised to look into it with a view to doing something about it, especially the drainages, so that residents could see where to park.” she added.
John is a trader in the community. He was also full of lamentations: “The condition of the roads and the challenges of parking have been a torn on our flesh. It is affecting our sales as it has dropped to an all-time low.”
He re-echoed the sentiments expressed by Dr. Modupe who also plies her trade in the community. “Those patronising our goods and services now prefer the Island where they can conveniently park their cars and do their shopping. They have stopped coming to this area for their transactions,” he said.
He also disclosed that the major problem of the community was the perennial flooding which comes in from Ilupeju, Ikorodu and Mushin before being collected in the Somolu canal. He said the community had appealed to the Lagos State Government to complete the project to provide the right of way for rainwater during rainy season. He said: “As we speak, there are still ongoing project on Apata Road and others and works on these projects have been ongoing for more than two years.”
He urged the state government to fix the Bolajiomupo road and the drainages, adding that Apata Road, where repairs are ongoing, belongs to the local government.
“If this is done, it will in itself create spaces for visitors to the community to park and transact their business conveniently,” he said.
Emmanuel, another official of the Bashua CDA, was concerned about the severe health consequences in the continued delay in fixing the roads and the drainages, which has been locked down with stagnant water.
“What we do is to gather women and children and hear them out because as a community, we have a responsibility to educate them on their right to free healthcare and how to avoid contracting diseases. Some of them usually come with their complaints and challenges on regular basis while we think on how to improve on them.
“The drainage on Bolajiomupu which has been locked down by stagnant water is capable of attracting the spread of diarrhoea and malaria on the children of the community if it is not completed. And in order not to lose any child to the spread of the diseases, we have decided to direct parents to take their children to the primary health centre in the community.
“We know that there are cases that can be taken to the centre and those that are designed for the general hospital. And these are some of the tutorials we bring to bear on the health of the members of the community. If a child is having a running temperature for instance, it can be handled at the primary health centre but some parents would prefer to take such child to the general hospital, thereby overcrowding it.
“We bring mothers and their children together in a town hall meeting to teach them about hygiene so as to avoid malaria outbreak. We embark on this periodically, and if we don’t sensitize them on the need for environmental hygiene and also allowing them to make inputs, we might not understand their challenges,” he said.
The reporter visited the Durosinmi Street of Somolu Local Government Area to clarify claims by members of the community with the Executive Secretary, Hon Abiodun Orekoya. The council boss was not on seat, but he spoke with the reporter on the telephone. His words: “The Bolajiomupo road was awarded by the Lagos State Government’s Ministry of Works under the immediate past governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola. The local government and the officials of the CDA have met with the current governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode who promised to ensure it is completed. But the problem seems to be with the contractor who allegedly is being owed some money, prompting delay in the completion.
“The challenges started some five years ago but this government is determined to complete the project. The local government does not have the capacity to finish the project, as we did not midwife it. Before now, I have reminded the governor that the arrangements reached at the meeting were not followed.” He assured that he would revisit the issue with the governor as soon as possible.
On the challenges of parking space in the area, he said the local government had compiled a list of abandoned vehicles and other property in the community, adding that the governor was equally aware of the challenges. He said with the assistance of the state government, the problem would soon be addressed.
On the stagnant waters on the drainages around the area, Orekoya called for the reversal of the environmental edit of the State to give room for the local government to reintroduce sanitation officials known as Wole Wole. They, he said, would enforce environmental laws and make residents discharge their civic environmental duties within their surroundings.
He said: “Every environmental day, we mobilise residents to clean their surroundings. But after that, you would see people filling the streets with refuse and this is why when it rains, floods take over the surroundings. There is little the local government can do because the environmental edit has removed the duties of enforcement of environment offences from the local government. People should rise up to their basic environmental responsibilities,” he counselled.