| DEATH TRAP
Streetlight poles, others endanger motorists’ lives
By TESSY OKOYE
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
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One of the falling streetlight poles on Lagos road
• PHOTO: Sun News Publishing
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The whole stretch of a road is supposed to be one straight
smooth ride. However, an attempt to get carried away while
basking in the euphoria of that feeling, might be the beginning
of an unplanned journey to the great beyond. Or better still
a visit to an orthopedic home.
Lying on almost all the highways in Lagos metropolis, like
emissaries of death, are different dangerous things that were
hitherto objects of beautification.
Good motorable roads are said to be one basic component of
a good government, which might have been the idea behind sighting
of streetlights on major highways. Apart the primary function
of providing visibility at night, the aesthetic value of the
lights to the environment can not be ignored. But the aim
has since been defeated, as they now stand out like a sore
thumb on major highways.
Plying the Oshodi Apapa expressway absentminded is like walking
on a field littered with landmines, as both sides of the expressway
parade dangerous non-functional poles lying on the road.
Ugochukwu Owuezu, a trader,living at Ilasa Busstop, noted
that the fallen poles show the type of value government places
on the lives of its citizens. According to him, motor accidents
at the busstop have become a daily affair, as cars lose control
while trying to avoid a pole by a culvert.
" There is nothing we can do to remove this particular
pole. It requires expertise and heavy equipment to be removed.
All we can do as concerned citizens, is to try and rescue
people involved in accidents here." He added.
" I don’t know the use of all the poles on the
road. They are not working and they won’t remove them.
Until it kills one of their own, they would not do something
about it", was the bitter outburst of Keji Durosimi,
an okada rider living at Ijesha Busstop.
Morenike Johnson, a fruit seller, could not help but rain
abuses on those she felt were responsible for the neglect
on the road. According to her, the rails that divide the expressway
at Ijesha have done more harm than could be imagined, as they
have fallen and occupied almost one lane on the expressway.
" Any time we see any of these government officials and
bring their notice to it, they would tell us it is not their
duty. Tell me whose duty it is," she asked.
The picture is the same in almost all the major highways across
Lagos State. More prone to danger are motorists who ply the
road at night unaware of the dangers that lurk at the fringes.
Apart from running into these objects and sustaining bodily
injuries, they are left at the mercy of hoodlums who lurk
in the dark to disposess them of their valuables.
Lekan Balogun, a banker, who ran into one of the poles on
his way back from work, also told Daily Sun how he was robbed,
while trying to inspect the damage the pole did to his car.
According to him, " I left my office at about 9 p.m,
only for me to run into a pole by Agunlejika Busstop. I saw
the object very late and could not avoid running into it.
The impact of the collision was so much, that I had no choice
than to stop and inspect the damage."
That decision to stop turned out to be a costly mistake, because
as soon as he stepped out of his car, he was immediately surrounded
by hoodlums who dispossed him of all his valuable and threw
away his car key.
The only candid advice he would give to any motorist who cares
to listen, is to move on if they ran into any object on the
road, once there is no body injury.
Millions of naira have been said to have been used for road
maintenance, but craters and dangerous objects are still the
vogue on them.
A place like Toyota busstop has half of its lane taken over
by water and silts, which lead to the endless hold-up that
starts building up as early as 3p.m and drags on till 8p.m
in the night. Every motorist in Lagos has had a taste of the
bitter pill the traffic congestion at Toyota has to offer.
Cele bus-stop, from the Mile 2 axis is every motorist’s
nightmare, as motorists have turned the good side of the road
into a bus terminal, leaving other road users to the challenge
of maneouvering the bumpy side riddled with potholes.
Moriamo, a petty trader at the foot of Cele bridge, told Daily
Sun that despite selling and making good profit by the roadside,
it has its price, as they are always on the lookout for vehicles
that might lose control and veer off the road.
" We sell more than those who are in the shop. That is
why you see most of us trading outside everyday, but it is
also risky as we mostly have to abandon our wares and run
for our dear lives when we see vehicles like trailers coming
our direction. Government should try to repair the bad portion",
she pleaded.
It is no longer news to Lagosians that the approach of government
to maintenance is lukewarm. It also does not come as a surprise
to most Lagosians that government would want to take credit
for a work they have done without putting in place machinery
to continuously maintain such infrastructure for the safety
of the citizenry. At the end of the day, when there are causalities
owing to their negligence, they would embark on fire brigade
approach.
When Daily Sun visited the office of the Federal Road Maintenance
Agency (FERMA) at Oto Wharf, Apapa, a man who spoke on condition
of anonymity disclosed that the agency, at the moment, lacks
adequate manpower to carry out repairs and remove dangerous
objects from the road, as many of them have been laid off.
At the Iponri office, a man, who identified himself as Abraham,
said that the ministry would look into the matter and effect
repairs where necessary.
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