Lagos/Ibadan Expressway:Julius Berger Killing People, Businesses, Stakeholders Cry Out
Segun James
Transporters and commuters using the Lagos/Ibadan have accused construction giants, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc of being responsible for the accidents and robberies happening along the long bridge at Kara axis of the expressway.
The Secretary of the Freedom Branch of transporters union operating from Berger in Ojodu, Mr. Olaniyi Bashorun cried out that some vehicle, which left for Sagamu in Ogun state at about 7.00 am, a mere 30 kilometre away were yet to reach their destination as at 2.00 pm.
According to him, hoodlums have capitalised on the traffic gridlock to rob and disposes off people their properties.
He specifically accused Julius Berger of not helping in ameliorating the problems along the busiest road in the federation, saying that unlike its counterpart, the Reynold Construction Company (RCC), which handled the Ibadan-Sagamu Interchange of the road,
“Julius Berger has been particularly slow in the handling of their part of the road construction. We expect them to provide us with alternative route, but they have not, despite the fact that they are handling the shorter part of the road,” he said.
Bashorun also accused the police of causing the nuisance on the road, adding that the refusal of the police to station their men at intervals along the long bridge is responsible for incessant attacks on motorists along the road, and at some days the robbers operate with no police to confront them.
A commuter who arrived Lagos after a grueling five hours on the road, Mr. Adewale Adebayo Onabakun lamented that “during go-slow, the hoodlums take advantage of the situation to attack. Even today, they break some vehicles windows as they threatened people with daggers and machetes,”
He said many commuters have been forced to sleep on the road due to the construction activities of Julius Berger.
THISDAY checks revealed that the sluggish pace of work on the expressway is exacting a heavy toll on road users and businesses. Since reconstruction resumed at the Sagamu Interchange to the Berger-Otedola end of the expressway in Lagos in June 2019, dissonance, gridlock, accidents, and robberies are reported daily. As Nigeria’s busiest inter-state artery, the expressway is the gateway to Lagos, the business heartbeat of the nation.
Being a federal highway, the road starts from Oyo state through Ogun to Lagos state along its 127.6-kilometre length.
The first contract for the rehabilitation of the road was awarded by the government of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014. However, Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo states have a responsibility to support traffic management and initiate close collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, police, and other federal security and law enforcement agencies to ensure traffic flow and security.
