Lagos traffic: Motorists, passengers lament hellish experience

Travellers on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Thursday spent hours in traffic on the Magboro to Alausa section of the road.

Such had been the case for weeks due to the reduction of the four-lane expressway to two lanes to enable the reconstruction of the road.

However, the situation on Thursday was hellish as the demarcated section of the road at the Kara Market area inward Lagos from Ogun was further narrowed down to one lane.

Apart from the narrowness of the road, motorists who were trying to link Lagos through the U-turn close to the Kara Market section of the road also compounded the traffic.

Also, motorists driving on one way, in a bid to beat the gridlock, compounded the situation for others on the part of the expressway inward Ogun from Lagos.

A motorist, Olatunde Jimoh, who spoke to PUNCH Metro, said, “I saw two containers lying on the side of the road. I believe they fell off some trucks which must have been towed off the road.”

Another motorist, Kemi Adetunji, said she experienced the traffic all the way from Alausa in Lagos down to Magboro in Ogun.

“I spent five hours in the traffic on my way to work today. I noticed it from Alausa. Some motorists were disobeying traffic rules by taking one way just to beat the traffic,” she said.

When PUNCH Metro contacted the Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps, Ahmed Umar, he said officers were on the ground monitoring the situation.

“Yes, we were there managing the traffic. Our effort enabled the traffic to fizzle out. It was slow moving but not critical. FRSC ensured mobility was maintained on the road. Also, in synergy with the police, our officers prevented driving against traffic and the violation of other rules,” he said.

This was corroborated by the Spokesperson for the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, Babatunde Akinbiyi, in a chat with PUNCH Metro.