Some members of the Ogun State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress and residents of Sango Ota, in the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state, on Wednesday, gave the Federal and Ogun State governments a 21-day ultimatum to fix the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
The group threatened to shut down the state in a mass protest if the demand was not met within the stipulated time.
The residents, who gathered under the aegis of the Ota Progressive Youth Initiative, trooped to the highway, as they called the attention of the government to the deplorable condition of the road.
The protesters, led by the state NLC Chairman, Emmanuel Bankole, carried placards with various inscriptions, including, ‘Repair our road with immediate effect or face the wrath of the masses,’ ‘400 per cent hike in transport fare due to bad road,’ ‘Our roads are death traps,’ ‘Fix our roads, no good roads,’ ‘No payment of tax,’ ‘Our taxes are meant for fixing road, so what happens?’ ‘Industries in Ota are relocating and closing down due to bad roads,’ among others.
They shut down the road from Joju Bus-stop, leaving scores of motorists stranded.
It was gathered that the Wednesday protest was the second time in the last one month that residents would be demonstrating against the condition of the road, which they said had become a death trap.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Bankole lamented that despite the visit of the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, and the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, to assess the condition of the road, nothing had been done.
He said, “A few weeks back, the governor and the minister were here, telling us that they would commence the reconstruction of the road.
“We are surprised that since when they came, not even a single tipper of gravel has been put on the road.
“This implies that they can’t do anything; they are just fooling us; they don’t have any plan for us.
“At this juncture, we need to withdraw our destiny from them.
“All these politicians don’t have any good plan for us; during the last election, we voted for APC both at the national and state levels so that they could bring peace into the country. Unfortunately, things continue to get worse day by day.
{Punch}