Isuti Road in Igando/ Egan area of lagos is one of the roads that connect Lagos State to Ogun State. Like the Badagry Expressway, this important road is in bad shape, leaving residents to suffer incalculable suffering. It is the result of having been neglected over a long period.
The situation is much worse when it rains. The road, substantially eroded along its entire stretch, is near impassable because of the several ditches and washed off segments.
Listeners to The Daily Report programme on radio (Star FM 101.5) have called repeatedly, calling for urgent intervention by the Lagos State government which is now fixing a list of roads in the state, undoubtedly abandoned by the last administration.
It was on the strength of those calls that our team visited Isuti Road earlier this week.
The extent of decay and damage is better imagined. Residents plead that the government come quickly to their aid to ease the pain and anguish of living in that neighbourhood.
There is a river at the end of Isuti Road, which connects to Totowu town, an Awori settlement in Ogun State. Residents of both communities commute daily in traditional boats, spending 7-10 minutes either way.
Our visit soon revealed that Totowu lacks even the most basic of necessities. residents we spoke with complain that they hardly have electricity, that there is no primary healthcare facility; that there is insufficient public primary and secondary schools.
“But our most urgent need is a bridge connecting Isuti to Igando,” a trader who relocated from isuti to Totowu ten years ago and goes back and forth at least three times a week, for business and to attend church. “For now, most family members can’t visit one another because they are afraid to cross the water. Sometimes, families are separated for many months because of this. Some men don’t see their wives for several weeks.”
She added that businesses in Totowu are dying for lack of patronage occasioned by long power cuts.
By Pelu Awofeso