Lagos-Badagry Expressway: Traders Lament Losses To Gridlock

By Chuks OLUIGBO

The traffic jam experienced on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway on a daily basis, which has worsened since the onset of the rainy season, has given traders whose businesses compel them to ply that route daily a cause for serious concern as many of them are beginning to count their losses.

Lagos-Badagry Expressway is the route to such important markets as Alaba International (easily the largest electronics market in the country), Alaba Rago, the trio of Balogun, ASPMDA and Progressive (all located within the precincts of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex), Article Market (located opposite the Trade Fair Complex), as well as other smaller unnamed markets. Besides, it is also Nigeria’s international gateway to other countries on the West African coast – Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, among others.  

Though the expressway is currently undergoing an expansion to 10 lanes with provisions for light rail and Bus Rapid Transit System (the section from Mile Two to Okokomaiko is being handled by China Civil Engineering Construction Company), road users complain that the speed is rather too slow and that the government is neglecting the many failed portions on that road filled with manholes. The worst portions seem to be between Abule-Oshun and Barracks (the Nigerian Army Cantonment), and between Odu Eran Market and Volks. The traffic situation on these stretches is usually killing.

As such, many traders whose businesses are situated at the Trade Fair Complex but who live beyond Volks (in such places as Iyana Eba, Igando, Okokomaiko, Ajamgbadi, etc) have been compelled to walk long distances until they get to Ojo Barracks where it is easier for them to get a bus to Trade Fair, failing which they continue their journey on foot until they hit their destination.

On the other hand, traders whose businesses are located beyond Volks but who reside in the Abule-Ado, Satellite, Festac and Mile Two areas often have to alight around the Trade Fair area and cover the distance between Trade Fair and Ojo Barracks on foot before joining a bus to their destination – or sometimes they have to walk up to Volks before they are able to connect a bus. As it is with traders, so it is with workers. In all of this, several man-hours are lost to traffic gridlock as those who do not feel strong enough to walk have to spend hours upon hours in the traffic.

For the traders, their losses are multiple. First, they have fewer hours daily to do business as they are forced by the traffic situation to get to their shops late, irrespective of how early they leave the house, and close very early as well so as to be able to find their way home before it gets dark. Second, many of their existing and prospective customers are discouraged by the traffic congestion. As such, they have continued to lose millions to the traffic nightmare.

“It is a huge wonder to every right thinking person why a road under reconstruction is left in such a catastrophic state,” says Mr Austin Odoemenam, an electronics importer at Alaba International Market. “It has become a nightmare for those of us who live outside but do business in Alaba because all parts of the road are cut in pieces.”

Recounting their losses, Odoemenam says, “Business is very slow. Goods that used to take one month to sell now take four months. Our customers have diverted to other markets not minding the high cost of goods in those places compared to our prices. Some call to ascertain the state of the road before venturing out, and once they are told nothing has improved, they divert elsewhere. So we now rely on customers who call us on phone to supply them goods, even those from outside Lagos. Returns are poor because we make better profits from customers who come to the shop to make their purchases. Transport fares have also gone up. We now pay N200 from Alakija to Alaba, a trip that previously cost N70. Even then, we spend two to three hours to get to Alaba every day. You wonder where one would get money to pay rent and all other expenses.”

For Leonard Umeokafor, a car and electronics importer at Alaba, who also lives in Festac, the road is every trader’s, nay, every commuter’s, nightmare. According to him, these days he doesn’t go to the market until late in the day, and he doesn’t drive to the market again all because of the bad shape of the road. Even then, he has to wait for hours at the bus-stop before getting a bus to Alaba because the bus drivers too are avoiding the road because of the number of hours they spend to cross the stretch between Trade Fair and Ojo Barracks and between Agric and Volks.

“Before now, that is, when the road was better,” says Umeokafor, “I would usually take my containers to Alaba to offload. But my last consignment I had to offload it at Trade Fair and later convey the goods in smaller bits to my shop at Alaba. Even though it was at a huge cost to me, it was better compared to what a friend of mine lost recently at Volks when his container fell off the truck that was conveying it to Alaba and the goods were spilt on paved portions of the road. He suffered a terrible loss as more than half of the goods in the container got damaged.”

Such is the experience of many a trader on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. And they have collectively called out to the state government to do something quickly to ameliorate their suffering. As Odoemenam puts it, “Before now, the Lagos State government under Fashola used to maintain the road by patching up the manholes that could cause gridlock, and that helped a lot. But now what we have is almost madness. We are left in the hands of all sorts of misfortunes.”

For his part, Umeokafor suggested that while everybody awaits the completion of the 10-lane project, the state government should do well to patch up the failed portions of the road to make it passable for not only the traders but also for other road users who ply that route daily to transact their businesses. After all, he adds, “The traders pay huge rates to both the state government and the Ojo Local Government Council, plus the toll they collect for every container that passes through that route.”