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| Lagos Badagry Expressway |
The quotation above is a Yiddish
proverb. Yiddish was the international language of Jews from Central and
Eastern Europe until the middle of the 20th century. I have noticed that
English translations of their sayings, tend to sound sort of 'tongue-in-cheek
'; the saying above is a case in point. Blasphemous as the saying may seem to
an English speaking person and especially in this part of the world, the
context of this write-up is not about religion of any shade or colouration.
When Babatunde Raji Fashola
(SAN) came into office as governor of Lagos State on May 29, 2007, he came with
the vision to transform Lagos into a mega city. Aspects of this mega city
project included the rehabilitation of infrastructures formerly taken care of
by the federal government, but had been neglected soon as Abuja became
Nigeria's capital in 1991. Of greater interest to this writer, however, is the
Lagos Rail Mass Transit project.
The Lagos Rail Mass Transit,
originally proposed by the past administration of Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande
(LKJ) in 1983, but truncated by the military Administration of General
Muhammadu Buhari, was a light railways project consisting of two separate
lanes: an outskirt blue-line and an inner red-line. The Red Line was to run
from Marina to Agbado. This line was to share the existing 30 metre wide
Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) right-of-way.
In the repackaged project by
Fashola the Blue Line, with a total length of 27.5 km from Marina to
Okokomaiko, with 13 stations in between, will run east-west, right in the
middle of Lagos-Badagry Expressway which links Lagos directly to the
south-eastern border of Benin Republic and beyond.
The road is envisioned to be
expanded and redeveloped into a 10-lane international gateway between
Igbo-Elerin Road (Okokomaiko) and Iganmu. The line will run on elevated
structure from Iganmu along the south side of the expressway passing the
junction with Eric Moore Road, crossing just south of the National Theatre to
Iddo, then south to Lagos Island with a terminal at Marina.
Apart from rail, the infrastructural
design also includes provision for BRT and multimode integration with
Non-Motorized Transport such as pedestrian walkways and overhead bridges for
safe access by passengers to rail and bus stations. End-to-end travelling time
will be approximately 35 minutes. It is to be built as a high capacity,
electrically powered rail mass transit system.
Lagos State is financing
construction of the Blue Line from its own resources, but the railway equipment
including electric power, signaling, and fare collection equipment will be
provided by the private sector under a Concession Contract. Actual construction
work commenced with a ground breaking ceremony performed by Fashola on 26 July
2010, and Phase I of the Blue Line between National Theatre and Mile 2, was
originally scheduled to enter revenue service by the first quarter of 2014. But
as I write this, in November 2015, the project is still dragging on leisurely
and the system may not enter service before 2018-19; by which time the project
would have been on-going for 10 years.
The sheer scale of this project
is ambitious to say the least and has far reaching implications for all stake
holders. The Lagos State Government on the one hand, because of the huge
financial outlay involved; for the construction work and in compensations to be
paid to people whose properties may have to give way for the expansion. The
Federal Government on the other hand has inherent interest in the development
since the road is designated a 'federal' highway.
During Bola Tinubu's
Administration, huge billboards had appeared along this road for the world to
see saying, "This Road Belongs To The Federal Government. Please, Bear
With Us" in a bid to wash his administration's hands off the deplorable
state the road. There were innuendos and speculations concerning how the
PDP-controlled Federal Government at the time, was frustrating Babatunde
Fashola's efforts on the project for political reasons and in spite of the many
advantages of the project.
Property owners on both sides
of the 27.5 Km stretch of the road were also affected. Many of them lost their
means of livelihood or had to relocate. There were also reports of some who
lost their lives due to health complications arising from fear of losing their
properties to the expansion; some because they did not possess the requisite
documentation, to enable them get any form of compensation for their impending
loss. Real estate agents and speculators have also been known to leverage on
the prospect of this project to attract customers, never forgetting to inform
them of the '10- lane road' coming soon to that axis.
The segment of the society most
affected by this laudable project, however, is the ordinary road user. He is at
the receiving end of both the good, the bad and the ugly outcome of it all. On
the one hand, the realization of such a dream would make transportation a lot
easier, faster and less cumbersome for him; as he would arrive his destination
more relaxed and within fairly predictable time and who knows, he might even have
his life expectancy improved as well.
However, on the other hand,
unfortunately, non-completion of this project will practically kill him: as he
spends most of his waking hours of the day in the logjam on the road; or as he
misses most of his appointments no matter how early he sets out or in his
attempt to beat the traffic, he loses a limb, if not his life, while 'flying'
an okada (motorbike) - which, by the way, is restricted on that road and thus
illegal.
For reasons best known to the
powers that be in Lagos State, under this new dispensation, the project is
almost grinding to a halt, with no explanation whatsoever, from any quarters.
What you see these days, is an army of engineers, technicians and other sundry
skilled and unskilled workers, sauntering around the work site day in day out,
with little or no activities going on. The road user is the worst for it.
Before now, all efforts seemed
to be geared towards the successful completion of the project on schedule. The
only downside to this is the fact that since the year 1976, when this road was
commissioned, routine and periodic maintenance of the road has been neglected
by all agencies of government; including FERMA. To exacerbate matters, this
neglect has continued unabated and the road is only waxing worse. As things
stand right now, from Seme border to Mile 2, you can hardly drive straight for
10 metres without having to slow down, swerve to avoid a ditch or run into one,
with attendant consequences to the vehicle and its occupants.
What you see at some very bad
portions instead, is motorists driving against oncoming traffic on the opposite
lane, endangering themselves and others as well, in the process. You would also
see unemployed youths, who have turned themselves into ad-hoc road maintenance
'experts', digging by the road side road and filling the pot holes, but they
are actually using it as an opportunity to solicit for handouts from road
users. All these say a lot about what we have become, as a people and a nation.
However, I have no doubt that
work will pick up shortly on the project. Firstly, because there is now a
substantive state executive cabinet in place in the state; secondly, the same
party (APC) is in power at both the state and federal level, thus, no antagonism
from any quarters for political gains and lastly, President Muhammadu Buhari
(PMB), the sitting will likely intervene with federal might, if just to redeem
his image, dented back in 1983 as mentioned earlier: his campaign team had
tried so hard to absolve him of any complicity in the matter during the last
elections.
While we wait for this to
happen, however, there is a serious and urgent need for three things to happen.
One, something must be done on the portions of the road still awaiting the
caterpillars, diggers and workers of the construction company handling the
project. Two, while work is ongoing and traffic has to be diverted, alternative
routes must be provided and motorists advised accordingly. Three and most
importantly, on the portion of the road not covered under this current project
(i.e. from Okokomaiko to Seme Border), everything possible must be done to make
the road passable; thank goodness, the newly sworn in Commissioner for Works
and Infrastructure in the state, Mr. Ganiyu Johnson has declared war on
potholes on all roads in the state. This will help to reduce the man hour
wasted every day and carnage on that road, as well as elongate the life span of
both vehicles and road users.
So, to put the Yiddish saying
quoted at the outset into perspective, let me salute the courageous and
visionary leadership of Babatunde Fashola ( BRF ) - qualities I am convinced
are also resident in the incumbent Governor Ambode - for coming up with this
bold and ambitious project. The prospect this road project holds is beyond
word, and we can't wait to have it completed and commissioned for use. But wait
we must. Therefore, while we wait, we want a road we can use; a road without
pot holes; a road we can be proud of. Oh, if only we can have Lagos-Badagry Express
road!
By Ezekiel Padonu
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