Ongoing repairs on the Ikorodu-Sagamu Road by officials of the Lagos State Government.

Eromosele Ebhomele.

There has been excitement in Ikorodu, the eastern part of Lagos following the commencement of rehabilitation work on the Ikorodu-Sagamu Road which had been left unattended to for many years. While commending the state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the residents also thanked their representative at the state House of Assembly, S. Agunbiade, for personally putting pressure on the government and severally moving motions on the floor of the House calling on the government to act on the road. Agunbiade, the former chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, is the current Majority Leader of the House of Assembly.

The residents explained that they had almost taken to fate after several calls to the government did not yield any positive result. “The worst is that this road is a federal road and it is along the road that the office of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA, is located. Many times, officials of the Lagos State Government had been frustrated while trying to work on this road. It is whenever the officials of Lagos State get here that FERMA would suddenly realise that the road belongs to the Federal Government,” Saidu Adepoju, a resident of the area said.

Sanai Agunbiade

Another resident, Aderoju Ladega, while expressing happiness at the development, said: “after much agitation and appeal to the Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, by the Majority Leader of the Lagos House of Assembly, S.O.B Agunbiade, Ikorodu-Sagamu Road axis of Lagos State is presently undergoing palliative repairs. “I must confess I appreciate this good move made by S.O.B (Agunbiade),” he said while urging those who would use the road after the rehabilitation to drive carefully.

Some of the residents told our correspondent that when put in shape, the road would ease the endless traffic congestion on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as vehicles and travelers to the southern and eastern parts of the country would make use of the road. When contacted, Agunbiade, said the commendation from his people should rather go to the governor of the state and the General Manager of the state’s Public Works Corporation.

“Why I said that is because the road, a federal road, had been very bad. I wrote a letter to the governor concerning the road and later met him and he said he would look into it. One night, someone called me from the Governor’s Office that the GM of Public Works had been directed to speak with me. That shows that the governor keeps my discussions in mind and that shows the responsiveness of the governor. You can imagine how many other people would have spoken with him and the volume of things he would be thinking about. But he remembered,” the lawmaker said.

Agunbiade, who also commended the Public Works Corporation, said he had earlier been told that FERMA had often stopped the state from embarking on the project. “It is on that road that we have LASPOTECH, the Waste-to-Wealth, that’s where we also have the Army Cantonment, two housing estates, about 25 communities. The worst of it is that FERMA also exists on that road,” he explained further, adding that before the repairs commenced, Ambode asked some officials to follow him to inspect the road and the officials returned with a report to the governor.

“Behold, on Saturday, the officials just called me and told me that they were on site. I went there to see the extent of the massive work they did. The position of the governor is that it is the indigenes that ply the road even though it is a federal road,” he added. Agunbiade said he only did what the people of Ikorodu expected of him as their representative

He urged the people of the area and the state to cooperate with the current administration adding that the governor is just taking his time to start running so that he would avoid making mistakes. Our people should be patient with those in government and pray for them because without their support and prayers, those in government cannot do anything.

“What the state government is doing now is a palliative to make it motorable. My brother at the National Assembly, Babajimi Benson, is tackling the Federal Government and asking that the road should be properly fixed. He moved a motion at the House of Representatives asking that the Federal Government should mobilise contractors to that road,” Agunbiade said.