Exercise caution on Lagos-Abeokuta highway, FRSC urges motorists

Mr. Clement Oladele, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in Ogun on Monday urged motorists plying the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway to exercise caution.

He spoke against the background of complaints by motorists on the slow pace of the rehabilitation work on the highway and the consequent traffic snarl.

Oladele, who noted that the challenge on the road would end with its rehabilitation, said the command could only interface with the construction firm to complete the project on schedule.

“With the ongoing rehabilitation, there is now hope that when the project is completed, the hiccups associated with using the corridor would soon fizzle out as soon as the project is delivered.

“On our part, the FRSC will continue to interface with the construction firm to provide adequate signage that conforms to the relevant UN conventions which Nigeria recently acceded to for purpose of highway safety,” he said.

Motorists plying the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway have expressed concern over the slow pace of work by the construction company handling the project.

The motorists, in separate interviews with NAN, on Monday in Abeokuta particularly complained that the construction company was using dividers to block a major part of the Owode-Ijako end of the road, resulting in traffic snarl.

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Abeeb Ahmed, a commercial driver, said the pace of work was slow and had caused motorists and residents untold hardship.

“We usually spend hours on this particular axis of the road; for example, this morning, we have already spent almost 50 minutes on a stretch of a journey that is supposed to take between five to 10 minutes.

“I urge the Federal Government to monitor the activities of the construction company continuously and also give them an ultimatum which it must not fail to meet,” he said.

Another motorist, Femi George, said there was need for proper monitoring of the state of work done so far, adding that the current tempo was not encouraging.

“I think the rain that fell over the weekend resulted in this morning’s heavy traffic;  however, I want to beg the construction company to develop another approach that will hasten the  job in order to reduce the sufferings  of commuters and motorists,” he said.

Patrick Jones, a resident of Owode, said the Owode /Ijako axis of the expressway was becoming a nightmare to travelers using the route.

“I spent over four hours from Onihale to Tipper garage about two weeks ago.

“The pace at which Julius Berger is working on both sides of the road is slow,’’ he said.

NAN reports that the Federal Executive Council had on April 12, 2018 approved the revised contract for the construction of the Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta Expressway to the tune of N56.70 billion.

The project is being handled by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.