Gberigbe, Lagos community where landlords are abandoning their own homes over dilapidated road infrastructure   

 

It’s a daily nightmare for residents of Gberigbe, a community in the Ikorodu Local Government area of Lagos state as they commute the only major access road that has become worse than dilapidated.  

 

Everyone is affected by this ugly road  – commuters,  pedestrians, businesses, school children. The situation is even worse whenever it rains. It’s simply a mayhem. 

 

The desperate and distressed residents have sought the government’s attention through  writing letters, sending delegation and demonstration, but all to no avail.  Some residents who have the means simply relocated. The remaining vast majority hope that the Lagos State Governor, Babjide Sanwo-Olu would one day learn of their plight and come to their rescue. 

 

A video of the road a day after rainfall showed school children and other pedestrians wading through the waters. 

 

Businesses suffer 

 

A Punch newspaper report of March 14, quoted one Mrs Ismail who narrated that her business begun to experience low patronage after the mass relocation of individuals from the area because of the bad road.

 

“People are leaving this area because of the bad road and businesses are affected seriously. I am a trader and I’m suffering from the effect of the bad road as sales are no longer as before.”

 

A resident, Olawole Paul, lamented that the road, which connects about 60 communities, has subjected the residents of the area to hardship mostly during the rainy season as it makes it difficult for them to access their homes and prevents children from going to school.

 

He noted that businesses and companies in the area are beginning to suffer from the effect of the bad road, while some residents are moving to places with better road networks.

 

Paul added, “I am a resident of Agura Gberigbe. This area is highly populated with over 60 CDAs in the community. It’s so sad that as populated as the community is, there’s no good road; virtually all the roads are bad. The most disturbing one is the major road that leads to Ijede. My business has suffered low patronage because of the difficulty of transportation.

 

“House owners are also bearing the brunt because people are being forced to relocate. Once it rains it’s always difficult for the commuters, including school children. We’d like the government of Lagos State to come to our aid. Companies and businesses are facing a lot of challenges due to the bad road.”

 

Another resident, Olufemi Abayomi, disclosed that the road has been in deplorable condition for over three years and has caused a lot of damage to motorists plying the road.

 

He added that the cost of transportation to major parts of the city has also skyrocketed due to the bad road while stressing that all the efforts of the community to get the government to intervene on the road proved abortive.

 

Abayomi said, “For over three years, we have been faced with the issue of bad road in Gberigbe. We are calling on the government of Lagos State, who may not be in the know of the plight of residents plying this road, to come to our aid. We have appealed to the government on several occasions to help us fix this road, but all our appeals have yielded no result.

 

“Transporters have inflated the price of transport due to the bad road as we now have to pay N2,000 to Ikorodu garage. The road has caused a lot of damage to vehicles and has made commuting in and out of the community difficult.”