After the respite of the Easter holiday, traffic jam, the feared menace on Lagos roads, was at its height yesterday during President Muhammadu Buhari’s one-day official visit to Lagos state to commission some projects. Although the Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy had appealed to motorists to bear with the government as some roads will be closed to ensure a hitch-free presidential visit; on a working day, the travel advisory was bad news to motorists and other road users, who were stranded during the president’s visiting hours or held up in gridlock long after the visit due to congestion on the alternative routes.
Lagos was in complete lockdown with many angry commuters wondering why the president couldn’t be airlifted on a chopper to some of the locations, thereby minimizing the inconvenience and injury which Lagosians and the economy will suffer. Others expressed worry about the state of the facilities slated for commissioning by the president. The last time the president was here on a state visit, he commissioned the uncompleted Ikeja bus terminal, which is still unfinished and not in use one year after. It is the same this time around. The Airport Road is incomplete. The Oshodi transport interchange is not halfway ready, and there is still tons of work to be done at the Lagos Theater, Oregun.
Analysts at Proshare Nigeria estimated that the public holiday declared by the Lagos State government for Buhari’s visit cost the state N1.28 billion in revenue. The analysts said while it was difficult to assess the impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), given that it was observed by only the state’s civil servants, the linkages between the public and private sector shocked productivity regarding mobility of labour across the state as the closure of major routes for the visit resulted in the shutdown of business activities in major parts of Ikeja, the state capital.
The Lagos state government said in a statement that: “During the one-day working visit, a number of State projects will be commissioned including the rehabilitated 10-lane Oshodi – Muritala Muhammed International Airport Road; the 170-Bed ‘Ayinke House’ (Maternity Hospital)) at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja; the Lagos State Theatre at Oregun, Ikeja; new 820 Mass Transit Buses and the multi-level Oshodi Transport Interchange along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.”
However, Huhuonline.com checks revealed that two of the projects inaugurated by President Buhari during the working visit were yet to be completed contrary to the State Government’s announcement.
First, the 10-lane Oshodi- Murtala Muhammed International Airport is not close to completion and far from being ready for public use. Lagos State Government in September 2017 began the reconstruction of the road, with a pledge to complete the project within fifteen months.
The design of the project released by the government include the reconstruction and expansion of the existing carriage to three-lane expressway on both directions, construction of two-lane service road in both directions, construction of ramp bridge to provide a U-turn from Ajao Estate to Airport; a flyover at NAHCO/Toll Gate and drainage works. Only the section of the 10-lane Oshodi- Muritala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Road that stretches from Ajao Estate flyover to NAHCO Junction has been completed. While the new ramp bridge at the Ajao Estate end of the road that connects Airport Road has been tarred, the construction of a flyover bridge at NAHCO/Toll Gate and drainage systems are still far from completion. Moreover, none of the pedestrian bridges promised by the state government to be built on that road has been completed. The government failed to complete the project it promised to complete by December 2018.
Also, the multi-level Oshodi Transport Interchange along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway has not been completed as announced by the Lagos State Government. The government began the interchange worth about $70 million in May 2016. While the project is uncompleted, the government, however, completed the front view of one of the three interchange structures in Oshodi ostensibly to get it ready for the commissioning on Wednesday. The last time President Buhari was in Lagos for an official visit was in March 2018. Buhari, then, commissioned a bus park in Ikeja. That park has never been put to use and still undergoing reconstruction.
President Buhari and his entourage returned to Abuja after his working visit. The President and his entourage arrived the Presidential Wing of the airport in Lagos amid tight security within and outside the airport. Those who saw him off at the airport included Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, Gov. Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Gov. Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) and Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti.
Others were Lagos State Governor-elect, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat. Some members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), members of the National Assembly; members of the Lagos State Assembly were with the President during the official visit. Also on ground at the Presidential Lounge were the top echelon of the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Immigration Service.
