26-year-old TimiAdeoye graduated two years ago from the
University of Benin and was a frequent user of the Benin-Ore route. According
to him, “traveling on Nigerian roads used to be a nightmare for me; I still
remember spending twelve long hours on a trip from Lagos to Benin regularly
since I got admission eight years ago. The memory of those trips still leaves a distaste in my mouth”,
he continues, “but I had to continue because I had to go school."
Being a road that is the major link road between the West and
South of Nigeria, it was appalling that it was in that state of decay. From
2006 to as recent as 2012, anyone who plied the Benin-Ore route would have easily testified to its horrific state. The deplorable
condition of the road aside, there were daredevil armed robbers who were lords
of the night and perpetual residents of the area and it was inevitable that
travellers inclined to always say a prayer to avert terrible traffic jam
lasting hours, and loss of lives and property. As Adeoye aptly describes it, it
was “hell on Earth”.
TimiAdeoye: Benin-Ore-Shagamu Expressway Under Goodluck Jonathan
Popular columnist, SonalaOlumhense once said, “If you are a
Nigerian, chances are you know someone who has spent an entire day, at least
once, traveling the 140-mile Sagamu-Benin City road, or been killed trying to
do so.“
TimiAdeoye: Benin Ore Road during my days as a Student, before
Goodluck Jonathan
As the legend goes, a former Minister of Works was reported to
have cried openly while inspecting the said road once, calling it a guzzler of
lives. Citizen upon citizen have resorted to pleading with successive
governments on national television and through other media to see to the swift
repairs of the said road.
Despite all these coupled with criticisms from traditional
monarchs especially the Oba of Benin whose domain has been a major victim,
unfulfilled promises continued to be the order of the day.
Sagamu-Benin is part of the Lagos-Mombasa, as well as
Algiers-Lagos sections of the Trans-Africa Highway, and of Nigeria’s East-West
Road. First constructed in the 70s, it was originally a three-hour route.
Since it began to deteriorate, contracts have been awarded every other year by
different governments. Somehow, nothing concrete has been done.
Then good luck came along, even literally. At last, the cries of
Nigerians had broken through to the top echelons and the current government’s
determination to get the road fixed and useable again was to put a smile on the
faces of those who ply the road.
Tapping into the controversial Subsidy Re-investment Programme
(SURE-P) funds, the federal government decided to fix the roads once and for
all to ease the suffering of commuters. In September 2014, President
Goodluck Jonathan commissioned the Phase 1 of the road, spanning 75 kilometres.
The second phase, as Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen explained had not been
fully completed because of technical challenges but was commendably over
60% done.
An excited governor Adams Oshiomole of Edo state – a prominent
member of the opposition All Progressives’ Congress (APC) – stressed that the
Federal Government’s effort in reconstructing the road is “the most outstanding
intervention the road has witnessed over the years.
A road that was once a death trap began to wear a new face and
is in its present state, good as brand new. A journey of twelve hours and
counting has now been reduced to a third of that time – four hours or less.
“God sent us his son in the form of Goodluck Jonathan!” shrieks
Madam Veronica Omoregie who travels every week from Lagos to Asaba to buy goods
for her trade that has sustained her and her three children since her husband
died tragically in an auto crash on the same road, in 1999.
This transformation was even buttressed by a recent survey
conducted by the NOI-Gallup Polls on the 8th of January 2015, which
showed that 60% of Nigerians who travelled during the yuletide season
acknowledged that the roads had indeed been improved on.
According to the findings released, majority of Nigeria road
users found it easier to travel to their different destinations in various
parts of the country during the Christmas holiday, unlike the previous year.
The survey read in part, ‘Overall, 69 percent of respondents
were of the opinion that the roads had either improved or had improved very much.
As a result of the improved condition of the Benin-Ore road and
others in general, transport giants, ABC Transport Company slashed its
fare prices in a widely circulated advert carried by The Punch Newspaper in May
2014.
It reportedly added the words, ‘The roads are getting better’, a
phrase that is a true reflection of the government’s commitment to
infrastructure and national development.
On his way to collect his transcripts last week, Adeoye slept
for most of the journey in the 18-seater bus he boarded from Lagos to the
university’s main campus in Ugbowo, one of Benin’s many sprawling districts.
The inscription “Welcome is the best journey” on the lorry in front of his
vehicle one of the few times he was awake barely registered until he got down –
the trip was too smooth for him to care.
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