Like most Lagosians, people in Ikotun Local Council Development Area and Egbe-Idimu LCDA are quite happy with the administration of Lagos State governor Akinwumni Ambode, The Sun Man of the Year, 2017.
Soon after he was sworn in 2015, he paid an unscheduled visit to Alimosho Local Government Area, a swing that took him from Akowonjo to Ikotun, Egbe, Ejigbo and Okota. On that first visit which was done without the fanfare of sirens and a long motorcade, governor was able to experience the pain which Lagosians residing in these parts of the emerging megacity go through on their daily commuting to work and their various business places.
During the visit, he addressed residents and directed that the Ikotun-Ejigbo-Isolo road should be rehabilitated, after observing the state of the road which he noted is too strategic because it serves as a major link road that connects a number of local governments. With promptness, work began on the very long road and it was pursued with vigour by the Lagos State Public Works Corporation. When the construction effort was completed and streetlight fittings installed to illuminate the stretch of road, the people got a new lease of life. Commuting was made easier.
People could close late at work or from business activities and be able to get a smooth ride back home.
However, the beauty of the work done by the Lagos State government may turn into mourning if urgent steps are not taken within the next 48 hours to repair an erode electric cable laid on the ground opposite the gate that leads into Ikotun, off the Ikotun-Egbe-Ejigbo road, right where commuter buses make a U-turn to go back to Cele Express.
The cable supplies electricity to the phalanx of streetlight poles installed on that part of Ikotun-Egbe-Ejigo road. The cable which was once insulated and passed through a plastic pipe is now exposed as the insulating material and plastic pipe have broken and damaged under the tyres of the uncountable number of buses, tricycles and motorcycles making U-turns at the specific spot.
The rainy season is kicking in and flood from the blocked drainage in Ikotun market flows across the road to empty into the canal on the side of the road.
Imagine that the flooding happens on the day and time when the cable is energized. Several people would be electrocuted before power supply could be cut off. That is why the chairman of Ikotun-Igando LCDA and the chief executive of the Lagos State Public Works Corporation need to urgently and promptly replace the cable and also protect it with a concrete overlay. Stitch in time will avert mass electrocution.
►Kingsley Ibezim wrote from Ikotun.