By Emeka Alex Duru
Lagos State, Nigeria’s Centre of Excellence, is an irony of sort. From a distance, it offers an allure that is disarming, an aroma that serenades.
But at close range, the picture, like a bloated balloon, bursts. And the residents, like rodents, entrapped in a closet, become victims of a situation that they often find difficult to disentangle from.
In those days, back in the village, rosy pictures of the City, were painted. One of the scenes, though, somehow, depicting immorality, got us, rustic village lads, swimming in imagination. The City, we were told, was an acronym for Love All Girls On Sunday (LAGOS).
On one hand, it conjured image of licentious life style of the residents – which in some instances, still prevail. But in all, it sold to us, an impression of a city that was synonymous with happiness, all year round.
To complement the frenzy, stories were told of how supply of potable water and electricity in the city, was taken for granted. The story was also embellished with presence of tarred roads in every part of Lagos.
Taken from the backdrop of an audience that relied on bush paths for whatever length of the journey, stream water for domestic use and bush lamps for lighting purposes, Lagos, was for us, the biblical paradise on earth, in a way.
What more, relations who had left the village for the city, had on their return or occasional visits, maintained distinctive carriage that advertised them as having seen the light.
Those were the major attractions that saw young men and women, leaving the villages in droves to Lagos, to find life, to earn a living and to live large.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, with the relative conducive economic climate that favoured manufacturing and marketing concerns, some of the dreams were actualised.
But the bubble, has burst. In place of good life that Lagos had advertised, drudgery has become the order of the day.
With virtual infrastructure collapse in many parts of the State, Lagos is almost losing its cosmopolitan attraction.
Worst still, in place of law and order, anarchy and disorder, loom large. The result is that despite some efforts by successive administrations in the State to save the situation, Lagos has become a jungle of sort.
This is where the menace of truck drivers on major roads in the state, finds expression. In maddening maneuvers that clearly indicate scant regards to constituted authorities and laws of the land, these lords of the roads, carry on in manners that give them out as laws on to themselves.
A spectacle on the Mile 2 axis on Apapa – Oshodi Expressway, in the last four days, gives a clear picture of the level of decay in the city. The Apapa Port-bound articulated vehicles, for reasons, perhaps known to the owners and the drivers, simply chose to park on the highway and service lane.
While they parked, they defecated, urinated and had their bathe, in some cases, on the stretch that covers over five kilometers, leading to the sea port.
This is aside the high incidence of robbery and other forms of criminal activities currently going on in the area.
With the authorities not doing much to tame the audacity of the drivers, other road users have been bearing the brunt. A report of a woman who lost her three-month old baby on traffic as a result of suffocation on Wednesday, summarised the stress road users on that side of the State have had to bear in recent times.
Aside the uproar that trailed the loss by sympathetic residents, nothing really may be done to bring the situation under control.
Truth be told, the story of Lagos, is a reflection of Nigeria. It is a bad story that leaves soar taste in the mouth. It is a story of neglect, poor management culture, haphazard arrangement and extreme disorder. It is a story that speaks of what should have been a blessing, turning a curse to the people.
Like the discovery of crude oil that saw Nigerian leaders abandoning other productive endeavours and hence the current uncertain economic situation in the country, Lagos sea Port, has seen the authorities neglecting and abandoning such other Ports as Onne in Port Harcourt, Calabar in Cross River State, Warri and Koko in Delta State, among others.
With the Lagos Port, seen as the only viable one among the lot, the facility has, in a way, become a nemesis to citizens and residents of the state.
This is why residents of the State on Apapa – Oshodi Expressway, Ikorodu – Apapa Road and adjourning Streets, have become prisoners of sort, denied exit and entry from and to their homes.
Lagos Port-induced traffic, has become a major issue in the State and to the Federal Government.
Experiences have shown that the menace has gone beyond the occasional quit notice by the State. What is clearly needed is a comprehensive action that will take the articulated vehicles off the roads.
The reasons for more proactive measure in tackling the situation, are many.
In a situation where the nation has been battling with series of pronounced and disguised incidences of terrorism in the last couple of years, leaving room for odious minds to experiment, may be an ill wind that will blow no one any good.
