They live in Lagos State,
Nigeria’s Centre of Excellence but for many residents of Ijegun Ijagemo
in Iba local council, they only see the excellence of Lagos on
television or whenever they ‘travel’ out of their community.
Traveling’ out has been a pain in recent
years, owing to bad roads. Whenever the rainy season beckons, it’s a
dreadful plight for residents as the only access route to the outside
world, Ijegun-Ijagemo Road, is always almost impassable.
Speaking with The Guardian, the Baale of
Ijagemo, Chief Ajakaiye Mojeed Adio, said: “We feel abandoned by the
Lagos State government. I am disappointed because so many
administrations had made several promises before any election when to
come to campaign for votes, but till date, we haven’t seen any positive
impact.
The Baale, who has ruled for the past four years in the community, added
that so many lives have been lost due to the bad road, as the closest
health centers are miles away.
“Our women in labour are sometimes
trapped as a result of the bad road. As a result we rely heavily on
Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in this modern age. Cars develop
faults on the road at will and many don’t even venture to bring their
cars home. They park them outside the community at Asipa-Ojuodo and walk
across the wooden bridge, which is also shaking and weakened now
because it is usually covered with water.
“Series of letters have been written by
the Community Development Associations (CDAs), but we haven’t gotten any
response. We were earlier placed on the budget list for this year but
we recently learnt that we have been removed from the list. We beg the
government to assist us even if they can’t fix the whole road at once,
they should at least do it in stages by starting with the drainage
system.”
According to Olaleye Kehinde, chairman
of Kolanut Estate CDA, residents are living in the stone age due to the
deplorable state of the road and lack of basic infrastructure, including
electricity in Ijagemo. Olaleye, who also doubles as chairman of
Ijagemo Federated Landlords Association, traced the problem of the
Ijegun-Ijagemo road to lack of drainage to channel the flood.
“Having lived in Ijagemo for over 20
years, residents have repeatedly pleaded for the construction of both
drainage channel and the road. The road during raining season is always
impassable and residents are forced to park their vehicles at Oju Odo
bus stop and trek about three kilometers to their respective homes. The
following morning, when they return to pick their vehicles, some of them
would have been vandalized or fuel siphoned from the cars.”
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