Lagos-Ibadan Traffic: Tunnel Curved Out By Thugs, Extort Motorists

By Oladosu Oluwagbenga 

The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway’s Longbridge, Ogun State terminus is experiencing worsening traffic as a result of ongoing work, which has opened up a profit opportunity for thugs.

To help vehicles and truckers bypass traffic on the road, a group of teenagers constructed a tunnel beneath the Longbridge.

The tunnel, which was at the start of the bridge leading into Lagos, was witnessed by one of our correspondents as drivers passed through it.

In order to get to Berger, Lagos State, drivers used the tunnel to connect to an unpaved road in the Warewa neighborhood.

The tunnel was flooded, but according to a commercial bus driver, a pumping machine and a conduit were utilized to drain some of the water to facilitate vehicle travel.

About six of the scum were observed leading cars into the tunnel and preventing them from entering by demanding money.

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Some of them were seen smoking what was possibly cannabis while simultaneously consuming booze from sachets.

Our reporter requested an interview with them, but they declined, stating that they were too busy collecting tolls from passage users.

A bus driver was dragged by one of them while the bus was in motion for refusing to pay.

He said, “Give me money,” in Yoruba. Or do you believe that you can enter this tunnel without paying?

Please, kindly assist with any amount, read a banner erected on the side of the bridge where the tunnel existed. And may God reward those who make it happen. Thanks. (“Underbridge Management”).

For weeks now, commuters have been lamenting the traffic on the road, which is being reconstructed by Julius Berger Nigeria Limited.

Punch Metro gathered that the traffic on Monday started around 6am at the Longbridge to the OPIC U-turn due to a diversion of about three kilometres created by the company.

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While our correspondents observed that Julius Berger had deployed equipment to the road, motorists claimed that the company did not start the work on time.

A motorist, Seun Adewole, said, “We are going through a hard time plying this route. It has been close to two weeks since Julius Berger created this diversion, but they refused to start work on time. There is no reason why they should create a diversion without starting work immediately.

“This was what they did when they created a diversion at the Otedola Bridge and did not start work on the road on time until after some time.”

Another motorist, Opeoluwa Jimoh, said the company was spending too much time on the road.

The supervisor of the Lagos-Sagamu section of the expressway, Wale Adebote, said the construction was ongoing in three sections simultaneously.

Adebote said, “We are aware of the hardship motorists are facing in the course of the road construction, which we also face as well in course of work.

“Our main goal is to complete the road project before the end of the year. We are trying to utilize this period now that rain has stopped.”

The Ogun State Sector Commander, FRSC, Hammed Umar, said his men were working with the police to keep sanity on the road.