Uthman Salami
Residents of the Amje Estaport Community in the Agbado/Oke-Odo area of Lagos State have been facing hard times following the collapse of the only bridge leading to the area following a torrential rainfall on May 6, 2024.
Presently, businesses in the community have become grounded, and residents are battling to find an alternate route to access the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
The bridge, which had shown signs of distress in the past before it caved in minutes after the rain started on Monday, is located at Olakunle Ojo Street, very close to Awotula Close.
Our correspondent learnt that the Close is like an emptying point for all the water flowing from Kola, Moshalasi, and Abucon areas, and this submerges the entire area any time it rains.
The residents appealed to the state government to intervene immediately and build another bridge because they find it difficult to leave their homes whenever it rains.
Also, because the bridge was the only means for locals to access the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, a resident and business owner in the neighbourhood, simply identified as Adeola, bemoaned the fact that after the bridge collapsed, people have become stranded and no longer able to access other areas.
“Presently, there is no alternative and people are just finding their ways to navigate through the damaged bridge. Some people will even have to take a longer route to connect to the major highways. This is the only accessible road to many communities within the area. The bridge is very important,” Adeola said.
“This is beyond what the communities here can do. There is nothing that we can do that will withstand the test of time. If the flood can damage a whole bridge, how much more a makeshift bridge? The only thing we need now is the government’s intervention.
“Several letters had been written to the local government, but they claimed not to have the capacity to repair the bridge. They said it is the state government that can repair such damage,” a resident, known simply as Soji, said.
The Chairman of the Amje Estaport CDA, Pastor Samson Akinde, told PUNCH Metro flood damaged the pillars of the bridge, weakening its foundation,
“It washed away the sand supporting adjacent drainage. The collapsed bridge served approximately 20 communities, acting as the sole link road from the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway into Old Ota.”
Also, the Secretary, Community Development Association, Mr Adeola Oredola, told our correspondent that residents were living in fear, warning that any downpour before the repair of the bridge might lead to further destruction of property.
He said, “It has grounded businesses. People can’t even move out. The alternative at this time of fuel subsidy is not even favourable. We were thinking of creating a plank over the area, but there is no guarantee that the plank will survive another rain.
“Car owners can’t move out, and people working outside the area can’t go to their places of work. From the bridge to the highway, it takes less than three minutes, but since the collapse, people now spend more than 20 minutes connecting the highway. Some residents even risk it by jumping into the ditch just to get to their places of work on time.”
When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Gboyega Akosile, told our correspondent that the government would soon commence the repair.
He, however, could not provide the date the repair would commence.
“Yes, we are repairing it. I can’t give you a timeline now,” Akosile stated via a text message on Tuesday.
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