Motorists in Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State have complained about the bad state of roads in the area causing damages to their vehicles.
Mr. Jibriel Uzamat is a motorist who ply Alaba/Shibiri road every day who recently lamented while narrating his ordeal.
Uzamat parked his faulty vehicle around the Alaba International Market and has lost so much business.
“Can you imagine I visit the mechanic workshop almost every day to fix my vehicle because if I don’t do, I won’t be able to work again. The bad road damages our vehicles, the government seriously needs to attend to us,” he said.
Continuing, he said, “Apart from this, we do encounter many loss as a result of traffic which makes us waste many hours on that road daily. We need roundabout at that Alaba bus top for ease of driving so that the traffic will reduce.”
Not only Jibriel is in this predicament, Musiliu is another commercial driver who ply Okoko/Aka road but does not want his identity revealed out of the fear of being sanctioned, as he reluctantly responded to the question posed to him.
“I wouldn’t want to say anything, let me keep quiet because it is better for me to keep managing the little I am able to do on that road than to lose all,” he said.
He added that, “All I know is that the road is damaging our vehicles. Look at my vehicle over there, it was just few months ago I repaired and painted it, but the road has condemned it now.”
Richard Johnson, an Igbo driver who lives around the community said he just returned from his mechanic. He cited that the road challenges that came with both the rainy season and dry season have made life terrible for people in the area. According to him, these challenges have left him out of work since December 2019 due to the bad roads.
“When we look at the detriment the roads have caused, you realised that many drivers are now at home because they can’t afford to be visiting mechanic workshops every day.
“For example now, I have been at home since last December because my bosses refused to hire me their LT buses. Many of them were avoiding the threats posed by it. As you can see, I am just coming from the mechanic because the one I hired just few days need to be repaired first,” he said.
Tracing the genesis of the persisting damage on the roads, findings revealed that the Local Government authority has at various times showed less or no concern in ameliorating the plight of the affected communities.
Meanwhile, it was alleged that at various times, for relief, the Local Government authority and different philanthropists within those communities have had voluntary contributions to repair the damaged portions of the roads.
Honourable Rosulu Idowu, the Chairman of Ojo Local Government wasn`t available for comments when contacted, he did not respond to speculations as several phone calls and chats made to his telephone line by this reporter were not responded to as at the time of filing this report.
