Lagos crumbles under weight of bad roads

From the mainland to the Island, from the densely populated Ikeja and Ijesha to upmarket Victoria Island, Lekki and Ikoyi, the embarrassing sight of the city’s decrepit road surfaces confronts you in dare-devil fashion.

State owned roads are just as horrible as stretches of roads controlled by the federal government.

There are crater sized potholes, gullies smack in the middle of a regular commute, hilly streets, eroded portions, trucks collapsing on account of the poor surfaces and bridges littered with tunnel-sized gaps.

When Pulse ventured out to see things for itself, we met citizens who couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on (Apologies, Donald Trump)!

Road to hell

Whenever the rains come around, the roads in Nigeria’s commercial capital begin to sink and swim. Literally.

“The contractors often use poor quality materials to build roads in Lagos”, said a resident who identified himself as Kazeem.

Pulse ran into Kazeem in the Apapa Wharf area of Lagos.

Kazeem earns his keep as a civil engineer. He explained why the roads in Lagos often go with the rains: “When the rains come around, it erodes all the poor quality materials that have been used to construct roads in Lagos during the dry season. Contractors shortchange the State government.

“The State government doesn’t really supervise the construction of these roads or ensure that the right texture of materials are used for road construction. Some State officials receive kickbacks from contractors to deliver poor quality roads. And on and on the cycle goes”, says Kazeem.

We were standing on a horrible section of the Tin Can port road as we spoke to Kazeem.

Tin Can is one of the nation’s premier ports. As we watched--cameras at the ready--articulated trucks laden with containers couldn’t access the port without extreme difficulty. Trucks were breaking down everywhere en route the ports. There was litter, there was gridlock and there was chaos.

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The Lagos economy accounts for over 65 percent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in nominal terms. Most of the goods imported into Africa’s largest economy arrive Lagos through the city's two major ports, before making their way round the country.

But the roads to Apapa Wharf and Tin Can are worse than death traps.

As we took pictures and filmed, police officers from the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) stormed the location, bundled us into a bus and drove us to their office for not obtaining permission before documenting the ruin around the place.

We were only let out of the NPA police station after threats and concessions not to bring our cameras anywhere near the ports ever again.

As we drove out, we made sure to capture the filth and piles of garbage lining the roads to and from Tin Can toward the Oshodi end.

In the distance, a police truck had broken down no thanks to the deplorable road surface. Police officers alighted to push their truck back to life, a reminder that bad roads are no respecter of guns and ranks.

Before us were broken down cars and trucks. “Welcome to hell”, our location driver muttered under his breath.

‘Bumper fall on you’

The road that takes one to CMS from Costain is just as bad. Here, traffic snarls no thanks to the crater sized potholes.

After CMS, as you head toward Bonny Camp, are several potholes and gullies.

Here, cars bounce, passengers cuss, tempers flare and cars run into themselves during rush hour. Bumpers come off, tyres fall apart and the commercial bus drivers disappear into nowhere after taking off your side mirror.

“You dey crase for head…your fada left yansh…ya mama…weyrey…abi on serey ni? Koni dafun e! Iyalaya anybody!"

The vitriol arrives in leaps and bounds and in saliva filled mouths.

Tempers flare because traffic is compounded by poor road surfaces.

ALSO VIEW: The state of roads in the city of excellence [Photos]

The Oshodi-Apapa expressway sticks out like a sore thumb as well.

After Cele; from the Mile 2 end, you dare not take your hands off the wheel. Cars have tumbled here off huge potholes. Accidents are frequent and articulated trucks have let down their containers on smaller vehicles to fatal effect.

Inner city roads are no better.

Inner city roads

Adesina, Omilani and Ilamoye in Ijesha, Surulere have mountains, ridges and hills for roads.

Life here is brutish and short. There is no government presence here. During night time, police officers lurk in dark corners to extort monies from motorists because they know you can’t speed off a decrepit road surface.

“Make government come helep us”, pleaded Musa, who operates a commercial motorbike on Adesina in Ijesha. “See as everywhere be. When election come, dem go come say make we vote. When we vote finish, we no go see dem again until another election time. We dey suffer for this Ijesha, I swear…”

Ijesha is a microcosm of the state of roads in inner city Lagos. Ilamoye should be a major road that connects Surulere to Apapa-Oshodi. Ditto Adesina. But you’d be lucky to ply them without having your bumper shattered.

When it rains in Ilamoye, it pours.

“We can’t come out of our homes when it rains”, says Kunle who was standing below a football viewing center in Ilamoye. “Fashola tried to fix this road but stopped. Governor Ambode came in and has not even bothered to look this way”.

All of Ijesha is littered with bad roads. You can say the same for most streets in Lekki, Ogba, Ajangbadi, Okokomaiko, Abule Egba, Iyana Isola, Okota, Lawanson and on and on it goes.

With the onset of the rains in Lagos, it’s only gotten worse. The rains often expose Lagos' underbelly. The craters deepen and widen and the potholes become rivers.

Ambode says keep calm

Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has directed the Lagos State Public Works and Drainage Corporation, LSPWDC, to embark on the rehabilitation of all major highways and arterial roads around the metropolis.

The intervention has been tagged, “Operation fix all pot-holes” across the city.

Special Adviser/Chief Executive Officer, CEO, LSPWCD, Mr Temidayo Erinle, says there’s a roadmap to rehabilitate the plethora of bad roads across Lagos which will be implemented once the rains subside.

Some of the 43 roads listed for rehabilitation in the first phase of the exercise according to Erinle are Lateef Jakande Road, Ikeja, Liverpool Apapa, Ojota interchange transiting the ramps on both directions, Alfred Rewane Road, Ikoyi, First Avenue Festac Town, Amuwo-Odofin, Kirikiri-Road, as well as Vanguard Avenue, Apapa and Ojo Road.

Others are; Herbert Macaulay Way in Yaba, Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, which recently witnessed heavy flooding after torrential rainfall, Lekki Epe Express-way, Akonwonjo Road in Alimosho and Old Abeokuta Way in Ikeja, among others.

According to Erinle: “As you are all aware, we are presently in the rainy season. As such, much cannot be done during this period.

“However, we are currently carrying out palliative works on our major roads through the application of boulders, crushed stones and other construction materials to address the potholes problems in order not to paralyse the economic activities of the State.

“Similarly, we also take advantage of some dry days to carry out repair works. I wish to reassure Lagosians that the Corporation will not rest on its oars to ensure that the people continue to enjoy pot-hole free roads and drastic reduction in the incidences of flooding in Lagos State,” Erinle said.

Enduring frustration

Minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, has also assured that the Apapa-Oshodi expressway, a perennial eyesore in the city, will be fixed soon.

“I just want to appeal to residents of Apapa, to people whose livelihood depends on Apapa, that Apapa is one of the priority roads under our ‘priority of works to solve roads’ that lead to critical ports”, Fashola pleaded.

“We also have on our radar. But one by one there would be an enduring solution. We’ve done the design, we’ve done everything for Apapa, it’s ready. It’s going to be a concrete road, I believe, that will last another 30 years. So we are close to starting work.

“We needed to get certification of all these prices before we get approval from the Federal Executive Council (FEC)to allow this to happen, that is the only delay. But we are very close; we have held two meetings in the last 10 days with the companies.

“We have an agreement with the contractors now. What is left now is to sign a formal Memorandum of Understanding before we can then proceed to Council”, the Minister said.

He added that: “Year on year , you will see that the provisions for the budget funding of Apapa and the Tin Can Island and Mile 2 – Oworonsoki Roads, all of which evacuate the Port have not been sufficient really to deal with the problem”.

For the moment, Lagosians continue to groan under the weight of some of the most deplorable road surfaces you are likely to see anywhere.

The Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU)recently ranked Nigeria's Lagos as the second worst city to live in the world. With its decrepit infrastructure, there were few complaints from residents of this city of over 20 million people, in the wake of the report.

“If Lagos wants to become a mega-city, it has to fix its mega pothole problems. A city is only as liveable as its decent infrastructure. Lagos isn’t there yet”, says Chinedu, a banker in Victoria Island.