Human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, has raised concerns over traffic gridlock at the Lekki-Epe road, calling on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to show responsibility.
Narrating an ugly experience of the gridlock occasioned by a roadblock on Thursday in a statement made available to SaharaReporters, Adegboruwa advised that all abandoned projects in the areas should be rehabilitated in order to create a sense of inclusion in governance.
“Coming in from Ijebu-Ode area today, I had cause to pass through Epe to Lekki Phase 1 area. From Sangotedo on both sides of the road, it is a total lockdown, which may be due to road construction,” he said.
“On the other side of the road inbound Sangotedo from Ajah, it is a standstill. The traffic has already extended to VGC area,” he lamented, wondering how those affected will get home “tonight, given the state of the traffic”.
He stated that the crisis of motoring around the Lekki/Ibeju axis should not have been an issue had the government taken proactive actions to forestall it, before now.
Citing sources, the legal luminary said that about 70% of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of Lagos State comes from the zone which had been neglected for so long.
According to him, “the VGC link bridge has been abandoned after Governor Babajide Sanwoolu secured his second term ticket.
“The 4th Mainland Bridge project has also been abandoned, for no cogent reason. The Lekki airport project is now in dreamland.
“The High Court complex in Epe is in a sordid state of total neglect and disrepair, perpetually in darkness and as hot as hell itself,” he observed. While in the mainland and other zones in Lagos, “bridges and new roads are springing up daily.”
He reminded the government that Blue Line, Red Line, Purple Line and may later, Yellow Line, are being constructed in the Mainland zones with the resources of Eti-Osa and Ibeju-Lekki zones. “Talk of robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
“I honestly believe in the saying that he who pays the piper should dictate the tune of the music.
“But for divine intervention and the spirited struggle of the people, the monstrous plan of Lagos State Government was to tax these neglected people to their bones by forcing two toll points on them to muzzle them to death.”
He, however, called on Governor Sanwoolu to fulfill his constitutional responsibility to the people of Eti-Osa and Ibeju-Lekki by providing them with durable infrastructure as obtainable in other zones of the State.
“Let the Governor revive all abandoned projects in these zones in order to create a sense of inclusion in governance.
“The ongoing road construction should be executed in such a way as to create room for smooth flow of traffic in order to benefit the people.”
