People living in Ira community a town in Ojo Local
Government Area of Lagos state have cried out over the total breakdown of roads
in their community.
Ira, a community of over three thousand inhabitants is home
to a large group of people from different tribes and ethnic groups within the
country.
A visit to the community which is just about five minutes’
drive to the local council secretariat revealed a very sorry state of roads
which could open a flood gate of tears from a visitor coming to the community
for the first time.
The sight to an onlooker is one of neglect and total decay
of its main access road that runs through the town.
The condition of Ira community road could hold one in awe
asking if this is really part of Lagos or a scene from an early 1970 rural
setting.
A brief chat with some willing residents and business owners
tells the story proper.
Mr Sunny Allay a businessman and community barber who spoke
to our reporter did not mince words when he opened up on why he believes the
local government council should live up
to its responsibility.
“ Mr Allay disclosed that the present condition of the road
is the worst in the history of Ira community and wonders if someone high in
power is angry with the them and is making them suffer for their sins.
“I don’t know what we have done to government why are they
making us suffer like this or did we offend them in anyway he asked”
“We heard that both the local government and state will soon come and start work on the road,if
that is true then good because the roads are so bad now that cars have stopped
passing through the community and any car that decides to pass through does so
at their own detriment.
When the rains falls, the whole road will just get flooded
and cars won’t know how to ply the road”
Allay also blamed huge tippers who engage in sand haulage
business as one of the chief culprits whose constant usage of the roads has led
to the decay of the road.
‘When these tippers carrying sand pass through this bad road,other
smaller cars cannot pass as the road will become more bad for other smaller
cars to use so government should stop giving them promises and fix the road
once and for all.
Wasiu Eniola another resident opined that the council boss
and his team should not waste time in repairing their roads,he believes that
they have suffered too much to allow the roads continue to fester in its
present state.
“ People have been saying it on the streets of Ira that the
local government will start repair works on the roads once the rains stops but
hopes such good prospect concerning the road comes to pass.
He further disclosed that for more than one year running,
the condition of these roads in Ira community has remained the same without
much effort from the government side to alleviate their sufferings on their
daily usage of the road and hopes that they would walk their talk in the coming
days.
These complains are coming on the heels of the one hundred
days in office of all local council areas in Lagos whose journey into political
office started when the state government conducted elections into these
councils to elect chairmen and councilors to run the affairs of various
councils across the state.
In the course of taking snaps shots of the road,a female
trader who would rather want to remain anonymous shouted ,telling our reporter
to inform the outside world of their problems.
Speaking in pidgin
English she said Abeg tell government through your work to come repair this
road,na so dem they come collect money from us every time she disclosed.
We dey pay shop permit,extension permit,market permit,radio
permit and television permit, so why dem go allow our road spoil finish like
this she retorted”
A visit to the home of the traditional chief or bale of the
community didn’t yield positive results as he was said to be sick and had gone
to the hospital for treatment.
While for Mr Fidel Nnabuike another business man who owns a
shop along the bad road disclosed the road at a time was never this bad when he
started his trading business many years ago.
It took the constant usage of big Lorries and sand tippers
always conveying sand from their depot near the river within the community led to
the quick break down of the road he said.
Nnabuike revealed that it was quite unfortunate that the
health officer from Ojo Local Government Council knows everything about the
state of the road when a particular time this year,toxic waste or refuse was
dumped on this road, and it took the timely intervention of shop owners who
called Hausa truck pushers to help clear these refuse waste on our road.
When asked who poured refuse on the road,Mr Nnabuike
revealed that it was the council in complicity with some fellows at large in
the community that did it and when a report was laid at the table of the health
officer, the officer told them that he is aware of the situation of things at
Ira and it was some people they know prevailed on them to dump the refuse on
the road.
Mr Nnabuike further stated that when they confronted the
health officer on the implications of the refuse to the living conditions of
the people and children living in the area, the health officer waved their
concerns away.
And the council actually poured the toxic refuse to cover
pot holes present on the community road and they even had to part with money to
some hoodlums who demanded money before they would be allowed to pour the
refuse on the road and when the health officer realized he has spoken more than
expected he now stopped talking Nnabuike disclosed.
An angry Nnabuike rounded off with hopes that rumors of the
government at the state and local government level promising to start work on
the road once the dry season’s sets in is one that should be true as they have
endured so much on this road in the last five years
A visit by KampeNews Blog to Ojo Local Government
secretariat revealed that the administration of Executive Chairman Rasulu Olusola
Idowu gave itself a big pat on the back for a job well done its first one hundred
days in office.
According to Mrs Salvador Odumosu the information officer of
the council, the government of the incumbent chairman has done well in
uplifting the lives of the people in the LGA and other communities in the riverine.
Mrs Odumosu disclosed that the council has scored very high
in the areas of waste management and environmental services,Agric and
social and rural department and also in
education among other areas where projects were commissioned and others still
ongoing.
Efforts to get her speak on the state of bad roads in Ira
community proved abortive as she said only the chairman was competent enough to
throw light on any ongoing projects in its jurisdiction.
Messages sent to the line of Mr Steve Ayorinde the Lagos
state Commissioner on Information for him to update and comment on the state
government readiness to act on the said road met a brick wall as he never
returned communications or replied messages from KampeNews Blog as at the time
of this article going online.
The people of Ira community needs help from both the state
and local government, and what better way to put a smile on their faces than to
rebuild their road and make the angry community happy again.
Story by Chilaka Patrick
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