Daily Independent (Lagos)
Michael Simire
19 October 2009
Lagos — A non-governmentaL organisation (NGO), Campaign Against Immunity (CAI), has carpeted the Federal Government for what it described as its unjustifiable neglect of all federal infrastructure in the state.
In a statement endorsed by the National Co-coordinator of the organisation, Mr Shina Loremikan, the CAI lamented that a major access route like the Third Mainland Bridge now had potholes at several spots with the surface peeling off rapidly.
According to the organisation, virtually, all the federal roads are in a state of disrepair, thus suffocating the already overstretched infrastructure across the metropolis.
The organisation listed the portions of the Third Mainland Bridge in need of urgent attention to include the Lagos Island-Iyana Oworo lanes, particularly the left side and the centre lanes. The situation in these spots often causes unexpected meandering by the motorists that sometimes result into accident, Loremikan declared.
In the heart of the city, some important roads that require urgent attention, noted the group, include the Apapa-Ijora-Costain, Apapa-Tin Island Mile 2, Western Avenue-Ketu, where the Lagos State Government is currently carrying out repairs and the Agege-Dopemu Expressway.
"The lingering Iyana-Ipaja-Otta Sango road that was abandoned by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo is yet to be completed. This is the road that connects Lagos to Otta and the gateway to the sprawling Otta industrial estate," Loremikan declared.
He stressed that the Apapa-Tin Can Island-Mile 2-Oworonshoki Expressway has been destroyed as a result of the activity of articulated vehicles carrying goods from the Apapa Port and the fuel tankers lifting their contents from the same axis.
According to him, the enormity of the damage done to this route was manifested recently when the entire stretch from Mile 2 to Iyana-Isolo was virtually impassable. "It took the cry of every resident before a palliative measure was taken by FERMA which has also failed as shown by the untold hardship suffered by motorists due to Wednesday's downpour," stated the group.
It added that the condition of the road since last week had revealed that, beyond the cosmetic approach introduced previously, the road need total rehabilitation.
The Federal Government, according to the organisation, should at least show some conscience by fixing the roads if for political or any other reason, it has woefully failed to start or site any new major infrastructural work in Lagos.
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