Traffic Gridlock: Lagos Assembly Wants Road Maintenance Reschedule To 11pm-5am, Weekends

Worried by the worsening traffic gridlock on Lagos roads as a result of on-going palliative work, the state House of Assembly on Friday called on contractors handling the repair works and the ministry of works to reschedule their work time outside the peak hours to avoid clogging traffic and inflicting pains on Lagosians using the roads.

The House also called on the police and Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to stop all check points as it was further compounding the traffic situation, and Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) to up their game and safe man hours lost on the roads.

The House further called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to invest more on water and rail transportation to ease pressure on the roads.

These were the resolutions passed by the House at Friday plenary after Hon. Temitope Adewale (Ifako-Ijaiye 1) moved a motion complaining about the harrowing experiences Lagosians pass through on the roads in the past few weeks due to on-going palliative works on the road.

The lawmaker who said it took him four hours to get to his house at Ifako-Ijaiye from the Assembly at Alausa on Monday due to traffic advised that the on-going work should be rescheduled to between 11pm-5am away from the peak hours.

While commending the governor for being proactive in tackling the issue of bad roads in the state through the on-going palliative works he however said the time of the work was making life unbearable for commuters.

Hon. Rotimi Olowo (Somolu 1) agreed that the best time for the on-going work should be between 11pm-5am and weekends or less busy hours, saying police can be involved for security purposes especially for the night work.

Speaker Mudashiru Obasa while commending the governor for being proactive as regards the road maintenance said the situation has become very painful and something needs to be done about it urgently.

Obasa urged the governor to direct the commissioner for transportation to engage all those involved in the maintenance as well as security personnel on traffic duties to see the possibility of suspending work during peak hours.

The House also approved the issuance of N400b bond and another N150b syndicated loan facility requested by the ministry of finance and directed that all borrowing must be tied to capital expenditure.

The House said it was approving the bond issuance because reports by its committee on finance headed by Olowo which was adopted as a resolution of the House at plenary showed that the state was still within borrowing limit.

In a related development, the House suspended indefinitely the chairman, Ifako-Ijaiye local government, Mr. Oloruntoba Oke for misappropriation and underperformance.

The suspension was sequel to a petition written against him by councillors in his council for dereliction of duty and for not using judiciously a loan of about N350m he took on behalf of the LG.

The committee of the House that investigated the matter headed by Olowo found the chairman culpable and recommended his suspension which was upheld by the lawmakers.

The Clerk of the House, Mr. Azeez Sanni was instructed by the speaker to write the ministry of local government and the local government service commission on the development.