FG to Complete Rehabilitation of 250m Ijora-Causeway Road in Lagos By August

Peter Uzoho and Oluchi Chibuzor

The federal government has stated that rehabilitation of the 250-metre critically-failed section of the Ijora-Causeway Road in Lagos State would be completed in August 2024 to ease traffic congestion on the road.

Managing Director of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Mr. Chukwuemeka Agbasi, stated this yesterday in Lagos during an inspection tour of ongoing road maintenance projects in the state.

Agbasi, who has been on inspection of some projects in the southwest to assess the progress and quality of work being done, also pointed out that deepening collaboration among stakeholders was critical to keeping the major roads across the country motorable.

Some of the projects for inspection include reinstatement of critically failed sections, access slab and desilting of drain along Ijora Causeway Road within FERMA Lagos 1, East in Southwest II Zone, and reinstatement of critically failed section at Ile-Epo Market Junction, Katangora Market and Dump Site Abeokuta Dual Carriageway in Lagos II, West in Lagos State.

He stressed the need to safeguard and maintain the durability of the road infrastructure in the country.

The FERMA boss, who started off on arrival with an on-the-spot assessment of drainage problems in Moshalashi Bus Stop, Agege Motor Road, Mushin, Lagos, stressed the need for people to stop dumping refuse into drainage across the country.

He stated that the main problems was blocked drainage, saying the agency had been able to proffer solutions where it felt that closer collaboration would be needed with the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA).

According to Agbasi, “The immediate priority is to start. We’ve already started doing that – desilting existing drains to allow water to flow. Water is the worst enemy for our roads, so people must stop dumping refuse into drainages. Once the drainage system starts overflowing, obviously, it affects the pavement. So, the desilting work is ongoing, and we’ll continue to do that.

“The time scale (for completion of the project) is in the next two months. The work here will be completed, and the road will be open to traffic.

“For me, it has been good; it has been excellent because without quality work, you are not getting value for your money. In fact, we insist on quality work being done for us to get value for taxpayers’ money.”

He added: “Today, we are back here. You can see the recovery, the extent of work that has been done. This is a critical section of the Ijora Causeway. The work is ongoing, but by the time we finish, we are now increasing the capacity or recovering the existing capacity of this section of the causeway.”

Engaging some stakeholders along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway at Ilepo Dump Sites, he stressed the need for the community to take ownership of projects.

He expressed hope of completing the remaining section of the road as soon as possible because of the importance of the infrastructure to the communities along the area.

The managing director mentioned that FERMA has done excellent work on recovering the previous capacity of the road, adding that a section of the road was being used for garbage and wastes.

He said the agency was also fortunate enough to engage with the chairman of the local government area, stressing the need for closer collaboration with the people of the local government area in order to make sure that the beautiful work done there was safeguarded and maintained.

In his remarks, the FERMA Lagos 1 East Field Officer, Dr. Atiku Sadiq, expressed delight at the progress of work at Ijora, saying the visit by his boss has shown clearly the current management’s desire to ameliorate commuters’ challenge during this period of torrential rainfall.

Sadiq stated: “The project came into being as a result of the need to ameliorate the suffering of those who ply this road. This road is an access to Apapa Port which is one of the economic lifelines of the country. It is also important as there was a time when it was left for a very long time. It became a hideout for criminals.

 “What we did is now to recover it by filling it with sharp sand to create a filter base and then do the blinding and after blinding, we are going to lay a ridge pavement which is made of reinforced concrete. It is more durable and it can carry selflessly the heavy load of the truck that passes. The length of the road is about 250 metres and the width is about 10 metres.”