In Soluyi community, Gbagada area of Lagos, residents say there is no help in sight concerning the poor state of access roads in the community.
They lamented that their complaints to formr Governor Babatunde Fashola’s administration in the state on the discomforts the roads had caused them failed to yield any results. They urged Governor Akinwumi Ambode to come to their rescue.
There are about four roads in the community to connect the Ogudu, Maryland and Ifako areas, but the routes are not accessible to vehicles. The residents are consequently left with the only road around the Deeper Life Bible Church area, not far from the Gbagada General Hospital.
It was gathered that a wooden pedestrian bridge on a canal on Aderemi Akeju Street, through which most dwellers used to connect Ifako, was fragile and as such, vehicles could not ply the area.
A landlord on Ronuga Street, Mr. Adebanjo Agbeco, urged Ambode to look into their demands and open up access roads into the community.
He said, “I have been living here since 1972. We have been writing letters to the state government since the military era without results. We wrote the Tinubu and Fashola’s administration, and we have written Ambode again. We are particular about the construction of the bridge and the road on Aderemi Akeju so that we can link Ifako. We only have one access road into this community and we are more than 32,000. The road is on Deeper Life Bible Church’s premises. We also want the road on Ojewale Street to be constructed so that we can link Maryland.”
A resident of Aderemi Akeju, who identified himself only as Samson, appealed to the government to rise to the situation as rainy season had started. He said houses were always flooded due to the poor drainage channels in the area.
He said, “The canal is blocked now and when rain falls, everywhere will be flooded. We contributed money to build the pedestrian bridge on the canal so that pedestrian can link Ifako. We have about 30 streets in this community.”
Another landlord, Mike Nwanedo, said residents who could not endure the difficulties caused by the bad roads vacated the community, adding that the pedestrian wooden bridge was a death trap.
He said, “The pedestrian bridge is a death trap. We cannot stay outside in the evening to get fresh air because of the mosquitoes that the canal breeds. Businesses are not moving here and many residents and traders have relocated.”
The Chairman of the community development association, Chief Akin Adedoyin, said they would soon be cut off from neighbouring communities if the problem was not addressed on time.
Adedoyin said, “We were at Rauf Aregbesola’s office many times when he was the commissioner for works, but nothing happened. We also called on Fashola on the issue to no avail. We submitted applications to Ambode in January after he announced that 114 roads will be constructed in the state. This place was never mentioned.
“The government has abandoned this community and we don’t know why. Roads here can be linked to Mende, Ifako, Maryland or Ogudu. We developed this area by ourselves. We constructed some of the drainage channels ourselves. We haven’t seen government presence here and they come here to collect land use charges every year. I even received a letter of commendation for paying regularly.”
“The Deeper Life Bible Church has constructed an ultra-modern facility on its premises and we learnt that the road we make use of on the premises will be blocked completely. Even now, we don’t have access to go out anytime the church is holding special services, especially on Sundays.”
The chairman said the development had brought untold hardships to pregnant women in labour and ill persons who needed to be transported to hospitals.
“The most annoying thing is that the government developed the road up to the canal and put a barricade as if that is the end of the road. Whenever they clear the canal, the wooden bridge is usually destroyed and we will have to rebuild it,” he added.
The Baale of Soluyi, Chief Solomon Olamiju, expressed hope that the current government would bring succour to the residents.
He said, “We fix the roads every December because the flood usually destroys them. Past administrations in Lagos State did not remember us. I hope Ambode will help us this time.”