This is the road to 11 states of S/E and S/S
By Sun News Publishing
Saturday, December 22, 2007

•Travellers disembark for their cars to cross over Photo: Sun News Publishing

Living index

Along the old road that branches off the expressway at the Ofosu end of the Benin-Ore road, there is a bizarre drama for travellers.
There are various bridges on the road that take just one car or mini bus at a time. Some young men from the area have turned task force men who collect tolls from drivers.

One of the bridges is spectacular. It is actually made of a haphazard heap of planks and logs of wood over collapsed concrete platform.

The toll collectors who also cut bushes to make way for vehicles on this narrow road arrange the planks and logs.
When their construction is through, they hold the heap in place with their hands and legs while the driver maneuvers the car onto it.

At that point, they retreat and the car finds its way across. Most times, the effort fails and some helping hands come to ensure a crossover.
This drama takes place all day long as stranded travellers who have disembarked from vehicles to lighten the weight are left roaming for an average of four hours waiting for their turns.

The vehicles are passed about 20 in a direction per time and each pays about N100. That is what hundreds of thousands of Nigerians headed east go through this Christmas on a road the Federal Government has refused to fix.

Ironically, the road now in use as alternative was abandoned about 40 years ago when it was replaced by the collapsed dual carriage way. That is where we have gone back to – 40 years backwards.

Ikenna Emewu in the week captured the chaos on this road on his camera.