Please, excuse what seems to be a preoccupation with the folly on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. My dad died on that road in September 2001, and it’s been tough living it down. But you really shouldn’t mind an excursion to “lower the waters and expose the rocks” of the danger on that road.
Last year, questions were raised from here as to whether the uncovered gutter between the left and right carriageways from the Sagamu Interchange to the Ibadan stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was a mistake that would be corrected, and not extended to the Lagos stretch. But now, completed segments of both sides of the road have uncovered gutters.
Saying that a combination of ill-maintained vehicles, untrained drivers who lack knowledge of the Highway Codes, and this expressway with an uncovered gutter in the middle, can lead to accidents, is like predicting the past. Many vehicles have already fallen into the gutter.
You could safely assume that the road is coming as designed and approved by a Federal Ministry of Works that apparently doesn’t think of safety. More worrisome is that the construction firms, Julius Berger and Reynolds Construction Company, experienced as they are, didn’t seem to have questioned the rationale for the gutters; they simply proceeded to work.
Both firms have been in Nigeria for a long time– Julius Berger since the 1960s, and RCC, successor company to Nigersol Construction Company Limited, and member of a construction consortium spread across West Africa, Central America, and Central Europe, since the 1950s.
They may have chosen to be politically correct, and not rock the boat. If this was so, it would have been a big shame… and a dangerous thing. Their seeming acquiescence stems from an intent to win contracts even at the cost of compromised conscience. Their failure to speak for safety is indefensible.
As the flawed road is being constructed, government must ask auto manufacturers to replace the sleek and fragile sedans, SUVs, and jeeps they send to the Nigerian market, with sturdier armoured tankers and earthmoving vehicles. Those can adequately withstand a roll in the dangerous gutters that have been approved for Nigeria.
Some allege a conspiracy of silence. This theory is informed by the Federal Road Safety Corps’ seeming inability to protest the deathtrap gutter in the middle of a “go fast” road. It’s strange that it doesn’t seem to matter to the FRSC that has statutory responsibilities for ensuring safety on a road patrolled by its men on a daily basis.
A morbid thought is playing out now, and one is not trying to sound hysterical. In her explosive spiritual book, “Prepare for War,” Rebecca Brown, a medical doctor, suggests that some members of the medical profession work for Satan. It seems she is saying that some medical personnel aid the death of their patients in order to help fill up the blood bank of the devil.
Though there are no proofs that the seeming conspiracy of silence between the FRSC, the Federal Ministry of Works, and the construction companies, is informed by this evil intention (only the spiritually aware can connect the dots), the thought isn’t totally out of place. Why are calls for the review of this flawed design being ignored?
Those who will argue that a redesign of the road will cost more money should ask the person they see in their mirror if he or she would love to lose a dear one before being convinced of the need to remove the deathtrap. Even those who designed, and approved the flawed repair job will not take that route.
The road “is broke,” you oughta fix it! It might help to remind the “ogas at the top” that safety is the primary objective of the Highway Codes. And to the money recently approved by the National Economic Council as refund to states that repaired federal roads, another tranche should be added for the “re-repair” of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. It’s about preserving human life, you know.
Demola Shote, a German-trained structural engineer, says such gutters –very likely built to drain water off the road– could also be used to run electricity, telecommunications, and other utility cables, but should be covered. He thinks leaving the gutters uncovered is a design fault that should be corrected. He recalls that when a fault on the new Ejirnrin Road in Ijebu Ode was reported to the Ibikunle Amosun government in Ogun State, the affected segment was promptly excavated and redone.
Relevant agencies of the governments of Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo states, the local governments through which this road passes, the FRSC, and the construction firms, must engage the Federal Ministry of Works on this apparent design fault. Those who designed, irresponsibly approved, and undertook the construction of the flawed road, must change their direction immediately.
They also need to explain what informs this cruel negligence, and (maybe) face appropriate legal sanctions. In fact, they should be made to face a murder charge every time a death occurs on that road; it appears like their action was a deliberate intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to accident victims. Surely, there must be some laws that deal with things like this.
If drivers who drove and caused deaths on this road can be prosecuted for criminal negligence, the men who designed and constructed the road should be charged with the same, or graver, offence. They are going against the grain of the fundamental human rights guaranteed by Section 33(1) of the Nigerian Constitution, which provides that “No one shall be deprived intentionally of his life. “
Black’s Law Dictionary defines criminal homicide as purposely, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently causing the death of another human being. So, negligence is a crime! The Criminal Code insists that any person who causes the death of another, directly or indirectly, by any means, whatever (including ill-designed roads?) is deemed to have killed that person. The death must however take place within one year and one day of the occurrence of the cause of death.
Public spirited civil rights lawyers will have to assist in clarifying this jigsaw. Those individuals who approved, and those constructing the deathtrap, are supposedly highly trained and certificated professionals, and can reasonably be expected to make well-informed judgments on the matter of road construction.
Imagine where the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, whose convoy reportedly ran through traffic lights, and into an American government diplomatic convoy in Abuja, would have been flown to if his vehicle had tumbled into a gutter. Now imagine also how many not so-VIP persons have been killed after their vehicles fell into the gutter on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Government shouldn’t have to wait to find out what could be the result of a wrongheaded inspiration to place uncovered gutters in the middle of an expressway. President Muhammadu Buhari must take an audit of such roads throughout the federation, and get them redesigned and rehabilitated.
And, while he is at it, he must commit to two more urgent matters: early completion of the East-West Road, and the grace to construct an East-West Railway line to free the roads from heavy traffic and reduce road accidents. Deliberate steps must be taken to stop the carnage on Nigerian roads..
PUNCH
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