Aswani market road PHOTO:JESUTOMI AKOMOLAFE
Isolo LG allegedly demands gratification from firms willing to repair
Aswani Market Road users have lamented its deplorable state and called on Isolo Local Council Development Area (LCDA) to fix it.
According to some of them, the road, which has been in deplorable state for over two years now, had attracted the goodwill of private companies in the area willing to give it a face-lift, but the local council had, allegedly, continuously demanded that companies taking up road construction must pay a fee to the purse of the council before they could embark on any repair.
Taiwo Rahmon, a driver in one of the companies located in the area, said Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries Limited have made attempts to rehabilitate the road but was stopped by the local council over a fee, which the company refused to pay to the council’s purse.
He said: “Many times, Emzor decided to fix the road, but the council keeps telling them to pay some money to them before they execute the project with.”
“Sometimes when we decide to fill the potholes, security operatives would attack us and threaten us. The state government should come and step in.”
A trader who identified herself as Esther Onuoha, while lamenting the bad state of the road, appealed to Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to intervene and call the LCDA chairman to order.
“This road usually increases traffic and has caused a lot of damage to vehicles. Many times, when trucks pass through this route, it usually swerves and almost fall on small cars. Before we record any death, Governor Sanwo-Olu should do something,” she said.
Another resident, Johnson Bassey, also appealed to the council to repair the road or allow private companies to take up the responsibility.
Meanwhile, when The Guardian called the Media Officer of Isolo LCDA, Lanre Olaleye, over alleged demand from private companies before road rehabilitation, the call was declined.
In a statement to The Guardian previously by Lanre in an interview on the deplorable state of some roads, he called on private companies to participate in their rehabilitation.
He added that the finances of the LCDA would not be enough to fix the roads. He however, had urged companies in the area to be socially responsible by contributing to the rehabilitation of the roads.
A member of the House of Representatives, Isolo Constituency 2, Hon. Ganiyu Abiodun Justice, had also told The Guardian that companies in Isolo had been looking away from their corporate responsibility of road rehabilitation in Isolo LCDA.
He said: “The council alone cannot fix roads. The companies located in industrial axis of Isolo are not socially responsible. There was a time we contacted all the companies in Aiye, Isolo-Mushin area for the repairs of the road, none of them showed interest for the construction. We have tried several times to get their attention, but it has been abortive,” he said.
