Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The Iwo Road Interchange is one of the most popular places in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. It houses two flyovers, the biggest roundabout in the state, and more than 12 motor parks for vehicles going to different parts of the country. It is also a confluence of five major roads.
The roads that form the confluence at Iwo Road Intersection include the two highways that come from Ife and Iwo towns in Osun State, the road from Lagos, Ibadan town and Ojoo end of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Iwo Road also leads to the Ibadan Airport at Alakia, and the popular fabrics market – Bola Ige International Market (New Gbagi Market), both situated along the Ibadan-Ife Road.
Each day, Iwo Road Intersection is always a beehive of activities, and life is in full swing till midnight every day. There are eateries, fuel stations, a standby police Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), roadside traders, animated digital billboards, banks, dozens of shops, traffic officers and so on.
But the intersection has become a thorn in the flesh of travellers and residents of communities in the area as well as other road users. They always have gruelling experiences at the intersection as a result of the endless traffic logjam in the area on a daily basis..
A motorist can be held up in the traffic for three hours between Bola Ige International Market or Wema Bank area and the Iwo Road intersection, which is less than one kilometre.
The incumbent Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, was in Ibadan recently. After his flight had landed at the Ibadan Airport, he was held up in traffic for at least two hours from Gbagi to Iwo Road Roundabout, which on a normal day should be about two minutes; drive.
Taiwo Adisa, Chief Press Secretary to Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, also recounted his ordeals on how he spent three hours in the traffic between Gbagi and Iwo Road Roundabout when he went to pick up somebody at the Ibadan Airport.
Some Nigerians had also spent their Christmas Days in traffic between Gbagi and Iwo Road Interchange.
Some of the reasons usually adduced for the logjam include the narrowness of the road, reckless driving, indiscriminate parking of vehicles by the roadside, some potholes dotting some portions of the roundabout, and many roads that have their confluence at the roundabout. The logjam is usually thick in the mornings and evenings.
Many people have advocated the need for the construction of a flyover that would directly link Lagos-Ibadan Expressway with Ibadan-Ife Road such that motorists from Lagos to Ife axis or Ife to Lagos axis will not have to pass under the Iwo Road bridge.
The Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland, Chief Lekan Balogun, emphasised the need for the construction of another flyover at the Iwo Road interchange to ease traffic. He said: “There was a time we did not have the Ife Road as wide as we have it now. There was congestion then too. But the widening of the road has made the complication worse. Many drivers are bad road users. Though the flyover might cost more, it is a lot better.”
But it seems a solution is being found for the problem, and commuters might soon begin to witness a free flow of traffic at Iwo Road Interchange and its environs. The hope was given recently by Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, who said his administration would spend about N8billion to reconstruct the Iwo Road interchange.
The govenror also promised that his administration would compensate owners of properties that would be affected during the reconstruction project.
The promised reconstruction has attracted kudos and knocks from around the state, with criticisms coming from the main opposition party in the state, All Progressives Congress (APC).
Assistant Publicity Secretary of APC in the state, Prince Ayobami Adejumo, described the governor’s proposed reconstruction of the Iwo Road Interchange with about N8billion as a misplaced priority and an attempt to squander government resources.
“The good people of the pacesetter state were taken aback by the action of Gov. Makinde when he chose a mosque as the place to announce the plan to do a multi-billion naira project. Without any record of presentation at the State Executive Council meeting or consideration and approval by the appropriate organs of government as required by law, the governor reeled out a contract sum for another white elephant project.
“The question on the lips of many people now borders on how the cost of N8billion was arrived at, even when no picture of the proposed picture has been shown to the world. What is the scope of the reconstruction project and where are the engineering designs which culminated in the contract sum? Was there any due diligence before the cost was arrived at and when did the consultants carry out their survey of the proposed site? Where is the Bill of Quantity (BoQ) and when did the relevant office advertise for tender to be made?
“Another pertinent question is that; why the desperation on the part of Governor Makinde to commit a bogus amount of money to any construction work in an area that would be covered by two different projects already awarded by the Federal Government? There are strong indications that the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan Expressway rehabilitation project would take care of the expansion of the Lagos/Iwo Road Interchange while again the recently awarded rehabilitation of Ibadan-Ife Expressway project would cover the remaining portion of the axis.”
But the governor’s spokesman, Taiwo Adisa, stated that the reconstruction was duly approved by the Oyo State Executive Council, adding that the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway would not take care of what is happening under the Iwo Road flyovers. He also said the rehabilitation of Ibadan-Ife-Ilesha-Akure Road was not directed at solving the perennial traffic bottlenecks at the Iwo Road Interchange.
Adisa, who emphasised the economic value of the reconstruction, stated that preliminary work has begun on the project and emergency corridors have been created to ease the congestion. The governor, he said, has started talking with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for the upgrade of Ibadan Airport and the purpose for the upgrade would be defeated if the problem of congestion is not solved. He added that Iwo Road Interchange is a major route to some parts of northern Nigeria, including North Central and North West.
Commissioner for Works in Oyo State, Prof Raphael Afonja, in an interview, also said the reconstruction of Iwo Road Interchange is different from the projects being done or to be done by the Federal Government.
Said he: “We are not doing any Federal Government related project there. We have bus terminals that are involved in it. There are some roads infrastructure projects that will be captured in what is termed Iwo Road Interchange. We are following due process.
“The governor is very transparent. Nothing will be hidden regarding this upcoming project. As we move along, we will carry the press along and the public will be aware of what the governor is doing regarding this project.
“We are considering all opinions and we’ll do what we need to do to make this project a success. We will release the details very soon. The governor has the vision to bring very good structured environment and a good economic development to the state. We believe this project will attract new investors from Nigeria and abroad to do business in our state.”
On palliatives to ensure motorists do not suffer, pending the completion of the project, Afonja said the government was considering alternative routes and would do the same in every project site to ease flow of traffic.
“This government is not being reactive but being proactive about things. We have a taskforce on ground. We are coming up with ideas and plans of alternative routes in case the project may hinder our people from getting from Point A to Point B.”