Published 28th Jul, 2023

By Opeyemi Lawal

For more than 18 months, residents and artisans around Odo-Iya Alaro, Mende, Maryland, Lagos, have been cut off from the rest of the state due to a road construction project embarked on by the state government.

The project, contracted to Julius Berger, a construction company, and commenced in December 2021 has halted the economy of the small community.

When FIJ visited the site of the project on Tuesday, only a part of the 3.9 km road to the left had been completed. Four blue roller compactors worked on the tarred road, compacting asphalt and concrete poured on the road.

Dozens of workers also dotted the work site. They were easy picks with their colored safety helmets and jackets.

The completed part of the Odo-Iya Alaro road. Photo: FIJ/Opeyemi Lawal

A passerby who walked next to me on the tiny stripe allocated for pedestrians fumed as he went by, “This una work sef. Only God knows when e go finish.”

An elderly resident who watched as the roller compactors glided over the tarred road told FIJ even though the duration of the project had affected their activities in the community, he would rather not say too much.

“I am not going to answer you because it is a state project. I will only have comments when they complete the road, even though they are months behind their schedule. They should have finished the project in February,” he told FIJ.

“Residents can no longer park their cars in front of their houses. They have to go elsewhere. There are almost no access routes from here to Apongbon.”

Gloria Adeleke, another resident, told FIJ how daunting moving around has become due to the snail-paced road project. She stated that the government didn’t provide alternative routes, as the available road only made the congestion worsen.

“Ever since the road construction began, moving around has been stressful. Before now, residents would avoid the inner roads to get to the express but right now they are the only options and this increases the congestion around here,” Adeleke said.

“The inner roads are a longer distance and residents are forced to spend more time commuting. Everybody now relies on one road to get in and out of the neighborhood.”

The resident said that the snail-paced project has adversely affected the economy of the neighborhood and suggested that the government could have closed the road in bits to cushion the effect on residents.

“People who have their businesses around have suffered even more because there is no way customers can access them due to the road under construction.

“The government could have closed the road in a close-as-they-need manner but they have refused to communicate well enough the duration of the project.

“The road project is a good one but we are worried that they are insensitive to how much it as affected our lives. They should establish ways to hold them accountable if the construction continues to drag as it is taking forever to complete it.”

Wasiu Oladejo, one of the artisans whose livelihood depends on the road, told FIJ that ever since work first began in December 2021, his life had been halted as the state government also forcefully demolished his workshop for a Julius Berger building.

“We were first asked to leave this place because of the road construction in early December 2021,” he told FIJ.

“We were told the project would last for only 18 months, and we believed the state government because work kicked off officially on December 12 of the same year.

“But surprisingly, the project began to drag on and it became difficult for people to make U-turns under the bridge whether they were coming or going.

“Things steadily grew worse and people coming from Anthony or Ikeja could no longer turn here but had to use the bridge, which caused more gridlock than necessary.

“Often, the only choice is the inner street, Suya Spot, but it only worsens the gridlock as the major road is not accessible.”

A part of the road still under construction

Oladejo stated that car owners living in Odo Iya Alaro had to put up with missing items from their cars as a result of parking them distances away from their houses.

“What is more heartbreaking is that a lot of people who stay here and own cars can’t go in with their cars. They have to park their cars on the other side, but the cars are burgled and some of their belongings are stolen. When this happens, there is no one to complain to. You are simply on your own,” he said.

Bayo Akinlere, another artisan, told FIJ that cane weavers and other business owners within the hub had borne the brunt of the over-stretched road construction for long.

“We understand that the project is their job and it has to be done, but the pace is terribly slow. They are doing it at their leisure and without care that it is affecting us,” he said.

“The slow pace has cut out half of the economic activities of this place. Everyone who works here has now been secluded from the rest of the city.

Akinlere pointed behind him to the inner part of the bridge and said, “There is a road that leads to Ojota from here, but even that was blocked this morning.

“Look around you. Our men are sleeping because we don’t have customers willing to walk down to patronise our services. Going for home services has also become risky because people are scared of becoming victims of rituals.

“Most of us don’t even have money to go home. The situation goes deeper than the surface, but who do we complain to? Last December, Julius Berger went on holidays but left the road inaccessible.

“Sometimes, when the construction workers come around, they would idle around all day doing nothing. This also slows down the pace of the project.”

When FIJ asked Jude Onah, a middle-age man who makes rattan, how much the overstretched project had affected his business, he said, “It has affected me terribly. I am still struggling to come to terms with the losses I’ve incurred.”

“We were badly hit last December because our business is seasonal and December is our peak period. We had to deal with having no customers coming to buy our goods.

Weavers stock their goods in hopes that customers would come

“Now, we are gradually depending on the internet to sell our baskets and feed out families.

“The construction project is a good idea, but it should have been done in a way that our lives won’t be halted completely.”

When FIJ first reached the Lagos State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure on the phone on Wednesday to understand why the road project had exceeded the stipulated time, an official asked our reporter to send an email to the address listed on the ministry’s website, but the email was not responded to. A follow-up text message and calls on the same day were also not responded to or answered.

On Thursday, FIJ visited the office of Tokunbo Ajala, the Director, Road Maintainance and Rehabilitation, Lagos State, who stated that the project started in January 2021 and denied claims that the state government promised to complete the project in 18 months.

“That road didn’t begin in December 2021. We flagged off in January 2022. We did not promise to deliver it in 18 months; we said we would do it in 24 months and this pronouncement was made by the governor himself in February 2022,” he told FIJ.

“Also, where in the world do you have a project of that size and you are talking about time as a characteristic for its completion? We are taking our time because we are ensuring quality, efficiency and safety.”

On mitigating the impact of the project on residents, Ajala claimed that the state government had interacted with the community and met with stakeholders on the Opebi side.

“I feel very strongly that we are doing well on that project, and on impact mitigation, everything that needs to be done has been done. We have managed the traffic and the impact on the community,” he said.

“We have deliberately avoided interactions with those on the Mende side and given them alternative routes. Those under the Odo-Iya Alaro bridge are illegal occupants.”

When FIJ asked if the project would be completed in 24 months, he said “if we will finish”.

Contrary to Ajala’s claims that the project kicked off in February 2021, FIJ’s media check revealed that project commenced on January 26, as shared in a statement by Julius Berger on its website.

Also, the project was scheduled to be completed by June 2023, according to Nairametrics.

Editor’s Note: Real names have been changed to protect the identity of our sources.

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