You know what people?! I saw something on the Third Mainland Bridge few days ago I think I should share with you. I am sure many of you will agree with me that Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) mysteriously resurfaced when nearly everyone thought they were dead.
At least, for those people who passed through the Third Mainland Bridge last Wednesday, they will share my surprise.
What were they doing on the long bridge, you may ask? Well, I can tell you authoritatively that they were repairing the potholes on the bridge, after several accidents had occurred on the road. Since it’s becoming difficult for them to build new roads, it should be convenient for them to patch the potholes on our roads!
Well, this could call for some kind of excitement because I must confess that it’s been two years now since I have seen FERMA signpost on any road. I can recall that some years ago, road construction signs were commonplace. There was effort then to fix bad roads and it was also a time when the roads in places like Oshodi experienced a facelift.
FERMA has become faceless in the minds of most Nigerians such that no one seems to know the name of the minister in charge of roads? Dear readers, can you help? I need to consult Ikechukwu Eze, our Features Editor here. You can’t blame me, you see, because we have ministers who are inactive.
When Ogunlewe was the minister of works and housing, we all knew him. Oby Ezekwesili, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala were names Nigerians got to know through the offices they held as ministers. They were very active, hence their presence in people’s consciousness.
Presently, I’m sure not many people can name the ministers of finance, petroleum, agriculture, power and steel, among others. The very few ones who are currently visible are: Dora Akunyili, Sam Egwu, Ojo Maduekwe, ministers of information, education and foreign affairs, respectively.
In fact, this was a test many of us failed one day in the newsroom when our deputy editor, Charles Ike-Okoh asked one afternoon. No one could say the names of the ministers he asked for. The answer to this is not far fetched, as the ministers have not been doing much to make a mark in the minds of Nigerians, newsmen inclusive.
Now, back to FERMA and the bad roads in the country. Journeying on Lagos/Ibadan Expressway is no longer a jolly one, even going through some federal roads within the Lagos metropolis can really be an excruciating task. The long stretch of road between the old toll gate and Iwo Road in Ibadan is in a horrible state. It’s really sad that such road still existed in a country where there is a minister for works and housing! Perhaps, he does not travel on some of these roads because if he does, he would have been forced to do something about them. A day journey is enough to leave him with back pains, or a disjointed hip to know how much it affects the health of those who travel through them almost on a daily basis.
For long, Nigerians have bore this suffering in silence, as we daily contend with most of the bad roads across the Lagos metropolis that had become increasingly dangerous and unsafe over the years. Now, we no longer think our silence is golden as we have resorted to speaking out loudly about our plight.
Likewise, Lagosians are worrying over the continued neglect of the roads, especially those who ply the Iyana-Ipaja-Oshodi, Iyana-Ipaja-Ikotun routes, which are in dire need of total rehabilitation. They lament that the poor state of the roads, marked by wide potholes, has brought untold hardship to road users just as precious man hours are lost on daily basis journeying through these roads in traffic logjam.
The claim by the state government has always been that most of the roads are under the authority of the Federal Government, that is, those considered as federal roads. The Federal Government should therefore be responsive to the yearnings of the masses and rise up to the occasion by fixing the roads in the general interest of the public.
No comments:
Post a Comment