BY TAIWO FAROTIMI
Governor Babajide Sanni-Olu of Lagos State has promised to commence work on the abandoned Lagos-Badagry Expressway this month of June. The governor made the promise during a tour of the road project over the weekend. Governor Sanwo-Olu who was there with his deputy, Dr. Femi Hamzat and the contractors said rehabilitation work would commence from Mazamaza to Okokomaiko.
There has been incessant complaints about the state of the road, which was started during the administration of former governor Babatunde Fashola. Motorists and commuters speak of their pains using the road. The road which also connect Nigeria with the neighbouring Benin Republic leads to such Economic centers as the permanent site of the Lagos Trade Fair Complex, the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, WAIFEM and the popular Alaba Market.
Staff and students of the Lagos State University, LASU as well as residents of communities in the area also suffer from the parlous state of the road.
Major activities at the Trade Fair Complex attract visitors from neighbouring countries. Such activities have been transferred temporarily to the Tinubu Square on the Lagos Island. WAIFEM is also a regional institute funded by the central banks of the West African states. It does training for people from the sub-region. Professor Akpan Ekpo, a former director general of the Institute was once robbed in the hectic traffic created by the bad road.
The situation there had elicited protests in the past. Fixing the road will therefore bring relief to residents and enhance economic activities.
