Kunle ADELABU & Wale JAGUN
Terrible state of Sekumade/Port Authority road, Ikorodu
Many major roads across Lagos State, especially Oshodi-Apapa, Ijora and others gave road users headaches today because of the failures of the three arms of government to proactively tackle the menace that started like a minor challenge but has been allowed to festered. The result is what we have today as motorists and commuters spend more hours in traffic due to the disturbing state of the roads, thereby constituting dangers to their lives and unreasonable loss of man hours.
This scenario is what commuters and other road users in Ikorodu are contending with especially on Sekumade/Port Authority road which is a link road to/from the Ikorodu-Lagos road. The road is very strategic to the economic and social lives of Ikorodu Local Government, Lagos State and the country at large.
It hosts the Nigeria Port Authority and Ikorodu Terminal which accommodates one of Dangote Group of Company’s major facilities.
Other facilities located along the road that are serving Ikorodu and many other communities are Ikorodu Ferry Terminal, Ebute ancient and modern markets, Ipakodo Police Division, SARS Office, banks, Ipakodo Junior and Senior Secondary Schools, Majidun Junior and Senior Secondary Schools, Origin Zoo which is the only Zoo in Ikorodu division, Climate Museum, Lagos State Park and Garden, hotels, petrol stations and many other private businesses.
Today, the road, which was primarily designed as a link and access road, has deteriorated and now pose a danger to the road users due to lack of needed attention from both the state and federal governments as well as negligence on the part of the Ikorodu Local Government and Ikorodu West Local Council Development Area, the two councils that are directly connected to the road.
Several portions of the road have been taking over by massive potholes which are now causing heavy traffic on daily basis and also damaging vehicles.
Management of many of the private businesses and companies along this axis, particularly Dangote Industry, have also contributed to the current state of the road due to their failure overtime to show concern for the road through their Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSRs).
The current gory state of the road, which started few years back as potholes which the Ikorodu Local Government and Ikorodu West local Council Development Area could have easily fixed then if both had been alive to their primary responsibility, has now become daily nightmare which motorists and other road users plying it must contend with.
To worsen the situation, the state and federal governments that have the financial muscle to fix the road are not paying any attention despite that the road also falls under there responsibilities.
The road was rehabilitated during the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration by a popular indigenous construction firm, CONSTENG Engineering owned by Engr H. O. B. Lawal, after another local firm failed to do the job after being awarded the contract. According to Engr Lawal while speaking on the deplorable state of the road during an official visit to the Sekumade palace in Ebute recently,the road was supposed to be resurfaced periodically after the major rehabilitation but unfortunately, there has not been a single effort by the state government ever since then.
“The road was not constructed for what it is being used for now. It wasn’t meant for the heavy-duty trailers that are now plying it but as a link road for vehicles from Lagos road into Ikorodu. The road is now in deplorable state due to the trucks that are plying it.
“When we constructed the road, there was an agreement that every year, the layer should be relayed with asphalt. We also told the State government to ensure asphalt resurfacing every two years but since then, the government has not deemed it fit to resurfaced it once”, he recalled.
During the administration of Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, the current Minster for Works, Housing and Power, as Governor of Lagos State, the road experienced many palliative measures to make it motorrable but nothing has been done by the present government of Mr Akinwunmi Ambode and this has led to the total collapsed of the road.
THE IMPACT gathered that that the periodic palliative measures on the road during the Fashola’s regime was due to the independence given to the Public Works Bureau to fix and make roads in the state motorable but the department has not enjoyed such freedom in the present administration.
It is worthy of note that several moves and appeals from the community, council and the representative of Ikorodu Constituency I were made to the Ministry of Works and the Governor in the last four years but all to no avail.
In January 2018, the Majority Leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly and the representative of Ikorodu Constituency I, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade, had to invitd the Special Adviser on Works, Engr. Ganiyu Johnson, and other senior staff in the ministry for the tour of major roads needing government attention in Ikorodu, including Sekumade road. Other roads visited were Ikorodu-Shagamu road (before its award for rehabilitation by the federal government), Gberigbe/Agura road and others. But till date, nothing has been done on those roads despite the appeal by the lawmaker.
Principal officers of the Lagos State House of Assembly
The only road the ministry worked on was the Ikorodu-Shagamu road but the road was later abandoned until it was award for rehabilitation by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the subsequent flag-off of the project by the Minister.
In November 2018, the Lagos State House of Assembly also decried the congestion at Sekumade Road in Ikorodu area of Lagos caused by heavy duty trucks based on the matter was raised by the Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade (Ikorodu 1) under Matter of Urgent Public Importance at plenary on Thursday, November 15, 2018.
Agunbiade condemned the indiscriminate parking of heavy duty trucks in Sekumade Road, Ikorodu, which he said was one of the two roads that leads to Ikorodu.
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The House had called on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to call on the Commissioner for Transport, officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), management of Ipakodo Lighter Terminal to put a stop to indiscriminate parking of long vehicles on the road.
The Assembly also called on the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to provide a place where long vehicles would park before they load goods from the terminal.
Another major challenge on the road is the ‘madness’ by the heavy duty trucks belonging to Dangote Industry and Port Authority.
The truck drivers park indiscriminately on the road putting lives of road users in danger and gradually replicating Apapa and Ijora gridlock in Ikorodu in the process.
Otunba Ganiyu Abiru, former Clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly and the outgoing Chairman, Ikorodu-Oga Development Association(IKODASS), at the first Ikorodu-Oga Cocktail Night with captains of industry, business owners, journalists and other critical stakeholders in the division held at the Ayangbure palace on Friday, November 2, 2018, lamented the menace of the heavy duty trucks on roads in Ikorodu.
“Let me invite your attention to the monster that we are consciously and unconsciously breeding. We are nurturing it and we don’t know. That Terminal at Ipakodo was in comatose some few years ago but now alive with danger to our people and the entire community.
“Every morning and afternoon, there are always articulated vehicles filing along the road and restricting two lanes to one for other vehicles in the process. The roundabout near the terminal are full of articulated vehicles which makes it dangerous to drive along that axis especially in the evening.
“Somebody somewhere is not doing his job. I believe that the local government should be alive to its responsibilities.
“For the fact that we want that mini-port to be alive and engaging in commercial and business activities, that should not in any way jeopardize the interest and safety of our people. Something urgently must be done.
“I witnessed a long stretch of articulated vehicles last night (Thursday night) while I was going back to Lagos. That is very dangerous. If care is not taken, we are going to replicate the Apapa gridlock here in Ikorodu. What we are experiencing in Apapa is what we are consciously and unconsciously nurturing at Ipakodo.
“I want to appeal to our Kabiyesis that something urgent must be done to correct the situation because if we leave the situation unattended to, it would affect our people and other businesses.
“We cannot let the people suffer because we want the business at the mini-port to go on.”
When visited by the executives and members of Ikorodu Chamber of Commerce and Industry last year, Oba Bashir Sotonwa, Sekumade of Ipakodo, stated that he has written to the Comptroller-General of Custom on the state of the Sekumade road.
He added that he had written a letter to that effect to the Comptroller-General of Custom few days back to see to the rehabilitation of Ipakodo-Ogolonto road.
“In respect of your concern over the Ipakodo-Ogolonto road, we have written to the Comptroller-General of Custom telling him about the deplorable state of the road due to the heavy-duty trucks from the Port that are plying it.
“The road is not only serving the people of Ipakodo, but also the entire country and government will have to do something about it quickly.”
Meanwhile, Oba Bashir Sotonwa has recently appealed once again to both Lagos State and Federal Governments to see to the rehabilitation of the Sekumade road.
He made the appeal while congratulating Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu and President Muhammadu Buhari on their election as Governor and President-elect respectively at the inauguration of the Ipakodo Development Association (IDA) at the Sekumade palace in Ipakodo, on Saturday, March 23, 2019. In his statement, the monarch deplored the state of the alternative access road located in his domain.
“It is, however, pertinent for me to call the attention of government at all levels to the deplorable state of the Oba Sekumade road, its attendant gridlock and the productive man-hour lost in traffic on this route”, Oba Sotonwa stated.
“This road is an alternative access road to other parts of Ikorodu Division and plays host to the Nigeria Port Authority, Voice of Nigeria and Ferry Terminal among other notable public facilities, hence, the need to give it prompt attention before it deteriorates further”.
In unison, residents of the division are also appealing to the government and the management of Dangote Industry to urgently find a parking space for the heavy duty trucks that are being parked on the road to avoid replicating the Appalachian gridlock in Ikorodu.
In addition, the residents, who are not expecting the outgoing administration in the state to do anything about the road, enjoined the incoming Sanwo-Olu/Hamzat government and President Buhari to make the urgent rehabilitation of the road a priority and also address the menace of the indiscriminate parking of heavy duty trucks when they resume offices come May 29.
