Residents blame “ineffective” representatives for terrible road in Ayobo-Isefun
For residents of Isefun, Ayobo area of Lagos, there has not been a more frustrating experience than a seeming neglect by their representatives at the local government level.
Daily, residents of the area have to battle a terrible road that has made life a living hell since the rains began early this year.
The road, inward Isefun and linking Ayobo, leaves nothing to be desired. Cars can barely pass without being stuck, as residents rely heavily on motorcycles for movement.
“It’s terrible, and no hope in sight,” a resident told Neusroom correspondent who visited the area on Saturday.
“You have even come at a better time [as it was a bit dry], it is worse when it just rains,” the man, who manages a block industry by the side of the road, told us.
A walk down the lengthy road by our correspondent and apart from a makeshift gutter filled with water and dirt, there were no signs that work would begin there anytime soon.
Residents and business owners went about their duties like every normal day.
“What can we do, we have accepted our fate,” a middle-aged woman selling food who only identified herself as Iya Ayo, told us. “One day, when they remember us, we’ll be grateful.”
Iya Ayo echoed the sentiments of Fawaz, a resident who brought the situation of the road to public attention on his Twitter, that landlords couldn’t possibly carry their houses away from the area to a “more urban area”.
Evening Twitter.
Please guys I’m trying to create awareness about the condition of our roads here in Ayobo, Lagos. I’ve been living here For Almost 15 years and the major problems here is this road. @Gidi_Traffic @followlasg @Fe_ducklin @AkinwunmiAmbode @tundefashola @OlaTheOG pic.twitter.com/IBehrBZssV— GRAMZ BANS! (@fawazgramz) October 10, 2018
But Neusroom reliably gathered that Hon. Bisi Yusuf, a former Chairman of the Ipaja-Ayobo Local Council Development Area and a member at the state House of Assembly representing Alimosho constituency 1, has a house close by – in Bada area of Ayobo.
Yusuf, we learnt, has done little to nothing to make notable impact on the people of his constituency. He is seeking a third term as member of the state lawmakers.
The current Chairman of the Ipaja-Ayobo LCDA, Shakiru, has also been described by residents as “very ineffective”.
“We don’t see them, they don’t even know we exist,” Iya Ayo further told us.
Fawaz, in his public outcry on the state of the road weeks ago, had said residents get their clothes dirtied by mud splash on their way to work, while some even fall down in it.
A motorcycle rider backed Fawaz’s claim. He said he “enjoyed” plying the road because it made him charge more and residents have no choice but to pay.
Residents are desperately hoping help would come to them ‘soon’, but there are fears ‘soon’ may become more years of untold suffering.
“With the people we have as representatives, I won’t lie to you, they might not pay attention to this road in the next 20 years,” the rider told Neusroom.
Efforts to reach Hon. Bisi Yusuf and Shakiru for comments have so far been unsuccessful.
