Lagos commuters groan daily due to lawless parking by truck drivers
The daily commuting experience of residents within Lagos metropolis specifically the Oshodi – Mile 2 – Apapa axis of the state continues to be one filled with night mares.
Penultimate to the 2019 gubernatorial election in Lagos state, the then All Progressives Congress candidate Babajide Sanwo Olu had made a promise among many others to ensure that he rids the Apapa – Mile 2 corridor of the state of the trucks and other articulated vehicles parking arbitrarily on major sections of the express way.
The governor had then promised that one of the first things he will ensure he does once he assumes office is to ensure that the containers responsible for traffic gridlocks resulting in agonizing hours being spent daily by commuters are dealt with.
At about that time too, the President had set up a committee to speedily address the issue of the arbitrary and lawless parking of these trucks and containers after he had gotten wind of the true state of things during an official visit to the state.
Well in all fairness to him, and the President it seems they were able to address this issue for a while as the containers suddenly had elsewhere to park and Lagos commuters heaved a sigh of relief.
That experience unfortunately was short lived.
Regrettably, they have since returned and this time even more brazen in their lawlessness and arbitrary parking.
This is because traffic experience has so much worsened within the last few weeks since November that commuters sometimes resort to walking a good chunk of the distance before being able to get buses to their respective destinations.
The trucks right from Cele down to 2nd Rainbow, Mile 2 First gate to Alakija now commandeer the express way taking up as much the entire lanes for long stretches of the express way to park their containers for days on end.
A good number of commercial bus drivers now routinely prefer to take ‘one-way’ simply to beat the log jam stretching half of the express way but then endangering lives of commuters.
Many now return back from work with fear in their hearts as miscreants now use the opportunity of traffic congestion to unleash terror and dispossess commuters of their valuables.
For many, going to work is as hellish as coming back home as there seems to be no good a time to be on the road.
I recall the agony with which a fellow commuter lamented in the bus a few days back. As I sat in the coaster bus that Monday morning en-route to Oshodi, I over heard a lady who sat in front complaining bitterly in pidgin English saying, “Nah wah oh, you wake up as early as 4.30, no way; you dey come back in the evening, nah war. This Lagos don tire me oh”
Take note that on this particular morning, we had walked a good distance to Mile 2 before we could even get a bus ready to go on the journey as the tankers had taken up all the lanes, effectively blocking the entire stretch of the road from Alakija all the way to Festac First gate.
As it stands, Christmas it seems is set to be a torturous one for residents and commuters around Mile 2 and environs except something drastic is done to address the issue.
One sincerely hopes that those responsible for calling this apparent lawless drivers to order will swing to action and bring some level of sanity and order to these areas.
