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By Maduka Nweke
In their last move to get the Alakoso road rehabilitated, stakeholders of the area including Peace Estate, Green Estate, Access Bank, Our Mother of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, (OMPH), DENCA Inland Terminal have called on the Lagos State Government to come to the rescue of the people of the area.
The road, Alakoso leads to Ijesha bus stop from Villa Park Hotel, via the Dencan Services, through OMPH Catholic Church, Prayer Estate and the Chosen Church adjacent to Festac Link Road and other estates adjoining Apple junction down to Festac Town.
Speaking to Daily Sun on the menace of hoodlums who harrass innocent citizens on the road, especially residents and occupants of the various estates and organisations along the road, Mr. Chuka Nnaji, former Chairman Peace Estate and the current Vice Chairman, OMPH Parish Pastoral Council said that attention of the Lagos State Government is urgently needed to get the road rehabilitated.
According to Nnaji, “We have done a lot of work in constructing the roads that cut across our estate and they include the roads that links the Catholic Church and the one that connects the Alakoso road. We feel that the State Government through Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area should come to our rescue. The road which is a diversion from the major road will go a long way in reducing traffic on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway and make movement stress free” he said.
In his own contribution, Mr. Cosmas Taiwo Odubanjo, one of the Landlords of the area said that Amuwo Odofin Local Government should deploy some of the revenue it generates from the road on a daily basis to rehabilitate the road. He noted that out of negligence, the road has degenerated to the level that men of the underworld now use it as a trap to torture unsuspecting motorists and road users.
Odubanjo said what makes the government visible to the people is the provision of social amenities. He added that the moment the government fails in its responsibilities to provide social amenities; they will not be able to justify the tax drive. “If government fails to provide social amenities and still enforces payment of taxes, they look for trouble because you don’t keep collecting without giving to the public. This is most worrisome this time around when tension is brewing up across the country. But should Government fail to handle these challenges, it may lead to anarchy which we don’t want at all,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, Mrs. Monica Efe Osaghae, the Managing Director of Efe Enterprises said that it smacks insensitiveness for the government not to consider the plight of the people. “How can those in government see what the people they are representing are passing through and keep mum? How can they justify the budget and the allocations extended to them from the federal purse? It seems that life is no longer meaningful to some people. This road has remained like this for a long time despite the fact that some policy makers from the local and state government pass through the road. It is bad,” she said.
