Residents, traders, commuters and members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Ojodu Berger branch have lend their voices to condemn in unison what they described as “insensitivity of the Lagos state government to the plight of the people” following the perennial traffic gridlock being witnessed daily on Kosoko Street in the area.
The gridlock, which was said to be making life unbearable for users of the road, especially in the mornings and evenings of week days, is occasioned by parking of commuter buses on the said street, as the operators have been banned by the government from using their former park.
Kosoko Street is route to hundreds of thousand residents of Ojodu Abiodun, Yakoyo Ojodu, Alagbole, Akute, Ajuwon, Denro amongst others, in Ifo area of Ogun state.
Recall that the Lagos state government had in recent time embarked on series of demolitions of communities and infrastructures on the pretext of cutting crime and urban regeneration.
The demolition of Ojodu Berger market and construction of new motor park, which is left unoccupied, pushed the commercial bus drivers on Kosoko Street, while some of the traders resorted to hawking on the street.
But the government in a stakeholders meeting before the eviction, promised to provide a better alternative, or at least return the commercial bus operators to their former park, when the construction is completed.
However it did not do as promised, as some of the union executives described the meeting as “somewhat deceitful”, noting that the government did not tell them it would not provide them a better alternative.
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This development has cast a negative spot on the government, having reneged on its avowed promise.
“The government hasn’t done well in this regard; we don’t have a befitting park and that is the reason for the traffic gridlock,” said an executive member of the Ojodu Berger NURTW, Unit D, Mr Nosiru Aminu.
“If they (the government) provides us a better space, we’ll leave the street. That street is too small for us to contain our buses; we have wife and children to feed. The government should come to our aid.
“There is a vacant space over there, where a filling station was demolished. We can move there and it is big enough to contain us,” he said.
Also speaking, chairman of the unit, Alhaji Kamoru Ishola, to decongest the gridlock, he urged the government to provide better alternative motor park for their use, as well as make the Kosoko Street a one-way drive, for those coming out of the street, while those driving in should use alternative streets.
In their reactions, some traders and residents of the street, who spoke on condition of anonymity berated the government for not being sensitive to their cries.
“Since the demolition of our old market, things have not been convenient for us. This new one we managed to build is too small and many of us are pushed to the street,” said one of the traders, who were pushed to the street, following the demolition.
Meanwhile Lagos state governor Mr Akinwunmi Ambode had in his second quarter town hall meeting held on April 21, at Ojo area of the state, said he did not authorise any market demolition at Ojodu Berger.
