Residents and motorists at the Oju Odo Market in Ikotun, Alimosho area of Lagos State have called for an urgent intervention as they count their losses following the collapse of a bridge opposite the market.
Some residents of the area told KOKO TV NG that the collapse of the bridge – which is close to The Synagogue, Church of All Nations – has led to frustration for hundreds of commercial bus drivers and thousands of other users on a daily basis, and imposed threat on their lives.
A resident who simply identified himself as Sulaimon told KOKO TV NG that it had been over six months since the bridge collapsed.
He said, “The collapsed bridge has been in a terrible condition for over six months and we have been calling on the Lagos State government and the chairmen of the two local council development areas [GA1] shared boundaries there to come to our aid but no action has been taken to fix the bridge.”
Sulaimon said that the community development association and concerned youths in the area had been clamouring and making announcements on radio stations including Bond FM and Faaji FM about the need to repair the collapsed bridge but it had not received any attention from the governments.
“The King of Ikotun Kingdom has also paid a visit to the place. Yet, nothing has been done.
“There have been numerous accidents involving commercial buses, Keke Napeps (tricycles) and private cars on the bridge.
“When it rains, accidents are common because the canal will be full and many pedestrians and buses will find it hard to tell the actual road from the collapsed portion of the bridge.
“Regarding the rain that fell two days ago, two victims were rushed to hospital after they were rescued from the canal by passersby,” he said, adding, “We want to call on the Lagos State Ministry of Work to intervene on the bridge.”
Another resident, Lamidi told that apart from the bridge which started failing some years back with the government showing no concern, the road is also in a bad condition.
He said, “Ikotun is known to be a very busy area. Even when the road was good, we did experience a lot of traffic on it. Now, it is impossible for even two Keke Napep to move side by side on the road as a result of the level of damage.
“And this is causing heavy traffic on the road; the time of reaching one’s destination is now tripled.
“A few weeks ago, the Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC) came to inspect some parts of the road in the area and we were all expecting them to do something about it but they ignored it.
“We’ve been tweeting about it and have been tagging Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to assist us since the Chairman of the Egbe Idimu is not ready to do anything. This is the same road the chairman takes to his house.
“People cannot move freely in the area during the rainy season because we are afraid that the bridge could completely collapse at any time.”
“The government should come and rescue us as we have many heavy trucks plying the route,” Lamidi said.
When contacted for comment, Gboyega Akosile, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said he would communicate with the authority in charge of the state Ministry of works and Infrastructure, whose job it is to take necessary action.
He asked our reporter to send him a text message with the location of the bridge, so he could forward it to the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure.
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