Residents of Olaoluwa Community Development Association in Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Lagos State, have appealed to the state and local governments to urgently rehabilitate their community road, which they claim has remained in a deplorable condition for over three decades.
The residents said the deteriorating road has made movement extremely difficult, particularly during the rainy season, leaving commuters stranded, businesses struggling and schoolchildren exposed to serious safety risks.
According to residents, the road becomes almost impassable whenever it rains, forcing people to trek from the nearest bus stop to their homes. Commercial motorcycles and tricycles have also reportedly stopped operating along the route because of its poor condition.
The Chairman of the Community Development Association, Moses Adeola, said residents had repeatedly appealed to the authorities over the years through letters, video recordings and radio broadcasts, but their complaints had not resulted in any meaningful intervention.
Adeola explained that the road serves as an important link to several communities and its condition has caused serious difficulties for residents, particularly those facing medical emergencies.
He disclosed that pregnant women being transported to nearby hospitals sometimes fall off motorcycles while navigating the damaged road. Patients requiring urgent medical attention and women in labour are also reportedly exposed to similar risks.
The community chairman further lamented that schoolchildren struggle to get to school during rainfall, adding that recent downpours had completely cut off access to parts of the community.
He also accused some local government officials of prioritising the collection of shop permit fees over addressing the community’s infrastructure challenges, despite the impact of the bad road on commercial activities.
Similarly, a former chairman of Prestige Community Development Association, now known as Ultimate CDA, Oluwokiti Ephraim, said residents had made several unsuccessful attempts to improve the road over the past 30 years.
Ephraim expressed concern that the road leads to a general hospital, making its poor condition particularly dangerous for pregnant women, children, people with asthma and other residents requiring emergency medical attention.
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He said commuters arriving from the expressway are often forced to stop at the junction and trek to their destinations, while traders sometimes carry their goods on their heads because commercial vehicles cannot access the community.
A resident, Doris Alaba, who has lived in the area for almost 20 years, also recounted how she once fell into a water-filled pothole while heading to work.
Alaba revealed that the road’s condition once disrupted her travel arrangements to the United States, as ride-hailing drivers refused to enter the community to pick her up, forcing her to hire young men to carry her luggage to the nearest bus stop.
She added that several businesses had shut down because customers could no longer conveniently access the area, while schoolchildren had reportedly fallen into water-filled potholes during the rainy season.
The residents appealed to the Lagos State Government and the Igando-Ikotun LCDA authorities to urgently intervene and rehabilitate the road to ease transportation, restore commercial activities and prevent further accidents.
When contacted, the Executive Chairman of Igando-Ikotun LCDA, Lasisi Akinsanya, could not be reached, as his phone rang unanswered. A text message sent to him had also not received a response as of the time of filing the report.
Residents are now calling on the relevant authorities to move beyond inspections and promises and provide a lasting solution to the decades-long infrastructure challenge.
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