Analysis: Dear Gov. Ambode, People Are Dying And This Is Urgent

This is a feature story on the state of roads and electricity supply in the Ipaja-Ayobo area of Lagos state especially as these alter the flow of business activities as well as endanger lives and properties.

The current state of Ayobo road.

It is a cloudy Sunday evening in October as we alight from a yellow Volkswagen bus at a fuel station opposite the Deeper Life Bible training school in Ayobo.

We approached a bunch of commercial motorcycle riders popularly called Okada men and got two of them to give us a ride further into the neighbourhood. Before long my rider and I had started a conversation that later veered into politics. He spoke so passionately through our journey.

“We are managing the area,” he said as I asked him about electricity and whatnot. Even though in truth the reality is far from anything manageable.

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You look and see that with average electricity supply habitants of the community are not experiencing ‘change’.

The road network is a total fiasco as well.

Monday Okwudili* who took me on his Okada explained the physically challenging nature of having to wade through the muddy road paths daily.

The current state of Ayobo road.

“It is not an easy task. In fact sometimes I want to stop but I cannot beg nor rob to survive,” he opened up to Naij.com.

“I came from the East in 2001 and learnt a business under my master for six years. Then he got married and all of a sudden I stopped being any trustworthy to him.”

The current state of Ayobo road.

He finally brought the bike to a halt around Olorunsola bus stop as we got deeper in the discussion.

“So I left him after series of accusations of theft and cases of undocumented sales in his spare parts shop. He accused me of things I had little or no knowledge about. I have forgiven him but my father came from Aba and told him off point blank. He said my Oga used me and won’t escape what he deserves. I have left everything to God. Someone helped me get this Okada and I have been paying him back in bits.”

The current state of Ayobo road.

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The job is demanding and the road isn’t any helpful. At the end of the day it takes way longer commuting within the Ayobo locale.

Transportation is twice the price in a relatively lower class neighbourhood because on the one hand the road is a mess – with uneven streets and ‘potholed’ main roads.

And on the other hand there are uniformed thugs and policemen festering at every corner with hands stretched as they arrogantly extort commercial operators like it is their birthrights.

The current state of Ayobo road.

When it rains, mobility along the Ipaja-Ayobo axis is impeded so badly it feels like being cut off civilization.

Lives have been lost on these roads. Businesses have been grounded. But we wait and watch; arms crossed and with bated breaths, to see if and when the government will make good its promises of change and poverty alleviation as was so tirelessly chanted in the wake of the 2015 general elections.

There is obviously no local government chairman here. Or there is a terribly corrupt local government council running things with no one from the upper echelon coming to rescue. One of these is the case.

The current state of Ayobo road.

The roads along Baruwa-Gate and Ipaja have been worked on and are still being worked on. But they are taking forever to be done with. Whatever the case, it is not enough to work on the outer roads and ignore the surrounding fringes. This will be cosmetic of the Lagos state government.

The current state of Ayobo road.

The road path is weak right from Megida down to Ayobo bus stop and from there into every surrounding street and alley you find till you drive down to Sabo, Orisunmbare, Oshin, Isefun, Olorunsola and Kande, to name but a few.

The current state of Ayobo road.

Bada-Balogun isn’t any less terrible too. The roads in the neighbourhood alongside an average electricity supply have ensured businesses are sprawling and living conditions far from okay.

The region is in dire need of change, an actual overhaul, and nothing less. The people have been abandoned for so long and if this is a representation of many other fringe communities across the Lagos metropolis then it is safe to say this administration sold us nothing but cheap rhetoric as campaign promises.

Ipaja-Ayobo is a small community in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos state.

*Not real names

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