Memo to Ambode: Build the Three Flyovers Lekki ‘Expressway’ Needs

Mr Governor, welcome to Nigeria’s second hottest executive desk. I would like to start what I hope will be an eight year series of engagements by sharing my thoughts on possibly the most contentious issue in the Lagos political space in the last five years. I want to propose to you and the residents of Lagos, who you are sworn to faithfully serve, a low hanging solution that will resolve the contention over provision of equitable and efficient transport infrastructure to the Lekki Peninsula.

Your government’s land use master plan for the peninsula anticipates 3.4 million residents and 1.9 million transients on 26,000 built up acres. Achievement of this projection, which no one doubts considering the ever accelerating pace of development in that axis, will make this part of Lagos one of the largest cities in the world beaten in the US by only New York City and Los Angeles and in Europe by Moscow, London and St Petersburg. Obviously the Lekki master plan envisages the creation of a very substantial planned metropolis which will be part of Lagos but will pose unique developmental challenges and opportunities. The actions of the Lagos State Government (LASG) to date however belie any intention to systematically overcome these challenges and exploit the opportunities. Nothing showcases this governmental failure as much as the often discussed and lamented Lekki – Epe ‘Expressway’ (LEE).

Faced with an unconstrained road corridor LASG blanched and failed to think big in any way comparable to its own population projection for the Peninsula or its grand plans for it which include an international airport, Nigeria’s first deep sea port, the most promising free trade zone in the country and possibly the largest refinery in the world. Instead of building the first of several modern multi-lane highways to move five million people and service its grand ambitions for the axis, all LASG could deliver was the expansion of the existing dual carriageway from four to six lanes for part of its length. Beyond Sangotedo the much vaunted LEE would offer no more lanes than have existed for decades serving but a fraction of current and projected population and activities. To compound its lack of vision LASG decided to prove it also lacked compassion or any sense of equity by insisting that its ‘expansion’ of the sole artery serving this vital part of the state must be tolled. For a state that proclaims land is its oil and that recognizes the Peninsula as its main urban land bank that contributes significantly to the state’s internally generated revenue via land use charges and consent fees, it was highly insensitive that its only major road would be the test bed for extreme capitalism which is what the whole idea of tolling roads is. Citizens and residents pay taxes precisely to enable governments provide infrastructure and services which include roads for the efficient evacuation and accessing of all parts of the realm. Governments go further and charge car license fees, which are grossly inadequate in Nigeria’s case but that is a different discussion, to provide more revenue targeted at road infrastructure. Peninsula denizens arguably have a higher than average per capita income within Lagos state and pay higher than average taxes too. How then, in God’s name, can it ever be considered equitable that the only arterial road for more than three million people must be tolled? Berlin, Paris, Houston and Chicago each have fewer than Lekki’s master plan population, which is in danger of being overtaken by facts on the ground, and is any of them served solely by a part six lane and part four lane road which is then tolled?

While it is totally unconscionable for a government to add one lane per side for 25 kilometres to an existing road when a suburb becomes a significant economic contributor to the commonwealth, it totally beggars belief to witness the hash that has been made of this attempt to extort the people. In the 14 kilometres between the first toll gate and the infamous Ajah roundabout, LASG’s engineers approved the creation of 10 roundabouts in an apparent effort to minimize the cost of the road and presumably make surplus funds available for other, hopefully licit, purposes. I walk 14 kilometres in 140 minutes but I am rarely able to drive that distance on this nightmare ‘expressway’ in anything less than 180 minutes, at least not without venturing onto the coastal ‘road’ or discovering the inner streets of Lekki phases 1 and 2. On the coastal road I pay another two tolls of N100 each to area boys, over and above the toll paid on the LEE, even while the waves lap the tyres of my car whenever the ocean feels a bit energetic. Despite my willingness to expose myself to danger from both criminal and natural elements, even this option has been snatched from me presumably by agents of LASG who blocked the coastal road over a week ago. The government wasn’t embarrassed by the fact that tax and toll payers were driven to risk lives and limbs with criminals and the Atlantic. LASG didn’t think of how to make the coastal road a truly viable alternative for tax payers not willing to spend up to six hours each day on LEE. It simply shut the option down.

In designing LEE the government was apparently driven to keep it cheap and deny users access to any viable options despite its avowals to provide alternatives when the initial idea of both privatizing and tolling the road were announced. To keep the road cheap it was limited to only three lanes per side up to Sangotedo after which it reverts to the existing two lanes. For the great boon of adding one lane for 25 kilometres our benevolent government planned to erect only three toll gates. A ten lane road like Ikorodu Road (IR) is didn’t strike LASG as apt for what will be Lekki’s spine but that isn’t the only lesson that wasn’t learnt from IR. Ikorodu Road offers the commuter five options for a u-turn and they are all flyovers and an underpass which we have at Jibowu, Anthony, Maryland, Ketu and Mile 12 and these are the most vital design features that keep that indispensable road flowing at all hours no matter how heavy the traffic is. We can imagine how totally unmanageable IR traffic would have been had anyone dared to afflict it with ten roundabout the way LEE has been. The need for flyovers over LEE is rather obvious and no rocket science so one can only wonder why the engineers who designed this road and the politicians who approved its construction as is failed to see the obvious but we shall not delay ourselves here with conspiracy theories for there is a road to fix and lives to be saved.

The Lekki – Epe ‘Expressway’ urgently needs the provision of three flyovers if the last part of its name is to stop being a morbid joke. A bridge at the Admiralty roundabout, another at Jakande and the last at Ajah would suffice for now. All the roundabouts would of course then be closed and the options to reverse direction on this 14 kilometer stretch would be limited to going under these bridges. This would transform a Law School to Ajah trip from a four hour crawl to a 10 - 20 minute dash as the trip would be an unbroken drive soaring over what today are spots notorious for two kilometer tail backs that take an hour each to navigate. Aba Expressway in Port Harcourt is plagued with similar gridlock for the same reason of multiple superfluous intersections. Oil Mill Junction used to be the most notorious traffic black spots on that road until an overpass was built on it. Today only long time Port Harcourt residents remember those nightmarish traffic snarls. Similarly closing off the intersection beside Shell’s Residential Area on the Aba Road permanently eliminated the traffic challenges at that spot. While the government in Rivers might lack the vision and / or courage to apply this solution along the entire stretch of Aba Road, I can only hope that you will instantly grasp the obvious and will not lack the courage to do that which is necessary.

In addition to garnishing it with abundant roundabouts, LEE is barricaded for most of its length by fences and deep storm water drains designed to break linkages to the minor roads that could have provided ways around traffic chokepoints. These barriers to free ingress and egress to LEE must be eliminated to enable the entire road network of the Peninsula work as an organic whole. On the Mainland it is possible to get off Eko Bridge at Ijora and go all the way to Fatai Atere Way without once returning to the main road. Similar time saving detours are possible on Ikorodu Road and all major highways in Nigeria. Why has LEE been chosen for this weird experiment in regimented road usage?

If your new government can build these bridges, eliminate the roundabouts and restore links to side streets which have been broken, lives currently lost to traffic stress induced heart attacks and stroke would be saved but the benefits go well beyond that. Fender benders and worse that constantly occur at the roundabouts and in the jostling for advantage while stuck in immobile traffic will save even more lives, limbs and property. The worst pollution from motor vehicles and the least efficient engine time is when vehicles are standing still in traffic. A close second cause, when it comes to pollution and engine inefficiency, is the need to slow down to navigate a roundabout even when traffic is light. Handled right, LASG might just be able to claim carbon credits for building these bridges which could offset the cost of the bridges. But there is more. The real estate market in the peninsula has been grossly distorted by the great cost in time and stress for each additional kilometer you move away from Victoria Island. Generally a property in Lekki phase 1 will cost up to six times what the equivalent property will cost just 10 kilometres away, five minutes away if LEE were an Expressway in reality. A concrete example is Lekki Gardens which currently sells its four bedroom semi detached duplex at Ajah for less than half the price it sells the same unit off Chevron road which is just six kilometres away. Such distortions, apart from destroying value for citizens, do not promote the efficient use of what LASG has rightly identified as its oil reserve.

Ultimately LASG must do more than just put up flyovers and eradicate roundabouts. To truly turn LEE into an Expressway and future proof it certain other steps, not all as urgent as the need for flyovers and roundabout closures, should be taken. The first such additional step is the creation of proper bus stops with sufficient room for buses and passengers to safely interact and without trammeling the free flow of traffic on the road. The current idea of expanding the road by a mere smidgen and sticking a ‘bus stop’ sign into the ground is the second most important reason for heinous traffic jams on the road at all hours of the day and night. Often buses both big and small take over two of the three lanes in order to drop and pick up passengers while all other traffic is relegated to just one lane. As early as 5.30am this causes up to 30 minutes of delay and tailbacks between Ajah and VGC on the Victoria Island bound side stretching beyond one kilometer. The Peninsula is still wide open and there can be no excuse for not providing LEE with generously proportioned ‘furniture’. Seriously one cannot help but wonder just what the agenda was when this road was designed: punishing the people or undeclared financial rewards?

Another step that needs to be taken to secure the future prosperity of the Peninsula is to expand the road to ten lanes all the way to Epe. This is the only way we can ensure that land use will be efficient with a more gradual and rational price gradient for properties in the axis. Additionally this will delay significantly the need for another expensive arterial road. It is important that this be embarked on now while the necessary space is still available.

Lastly the Green rail line that is projected to go from the Marina to the Export Processing Zone needs to be prioritized. Considering the economic profile of the Peninsula it would be one of the more attractive lines for the private investors expected to build all the remaining rail lines. You should pull out all the stops to make this a reality even before 2019 when you will need the ever increasing votes of the Peninsula’s residents. These steps in addition to the obvious need to get rid of the nuisance toll gates will secure your place in the people’s hearts.

You cannot stop any Lekki resident who pays his taxes but provides his own power, water, estate roads, security, sends his kids to private schools and uses private hospitals only to be asked to pay a toll to get into and out of his home from wondering just what your government has ever done for him. Surely LASG is to serve a purpose and that purpose cannot be impoverishment of our lives and pockets. This is the time you must decide how you want to fight the next election: you can start from today by doing what is right and equitable to all residents of this great state or you can count on regents, godfathers and your party to somehow get you another four years in power in spite of whatever the voters feel about you and your service. May God guide you in leaving 20 million lives better than you met them.

Abraham Abiodun Idowu
June 14th 2015

Lekki has benefited enough over the last 8yrs,let other parts of Lagos like Ojo,okota,festac have their feel

Provide a link bridge that connect VI and Ibeshe Ikorodu

alienvirus:
Provide a link bridge that connect VI and Ibeshe Ikorodu

VI would become choked

Other areas of lagos like Ifako Ijaiye/Alimosho are complaining of neglect and you are mentioning Lekki-EPE expressway should be expanded.......
Ambode come and do our inner streets at least we pay taxes too

oya come and move this to front page lalasticlala seun
people are suffering let the LASG see this notice and alleviate the hardship being encountered........

adaweezy:

VI would become choked

How?

Very intelligent and objective write up. Mod pls do needful.

How does asking that Lekki get a 10 lane road, like the mainland, or flyovers, like the mainland, deprive the mainland of those assets it already has and will continue to get? Or can you count the flyovers and 10 lane roads that make mainland livable?

adaweezy:
Other areas of lagos like Ifako Ijaiye/Alimosho are complaining of neglect and you are mentioning Lekki-EPE expressway should be expanded.......
Ambode come and do our inner streets at least we pay taxes too

No brainer i tell ya

Their attempt to control flow of traffic with roundabouts is just laughable...visionless leaders

OP this is an excellent write up, can you share your details so we can speak more?

Lekkisians are of course just suffering and smiling and probably just enjoying consolation that they live in an area that command some social respect in Lagos. The water is bad, there is disturbing and long traffic and rent is massively expensive. Your write up is extremely brilliant and I think can be further developed into translatable action if the government does not already have one.

Make no mistake about it, the state has the funds.

We residents of the Lekki area are seriously suffering, i hope Ambode who is ironically from Epe will listen to the voice of wisdom and do the right thing.

The OP or author of the article has written the most intelligent piece I have read in a long time. He should be paid consultancy services for this detailed and balanced solution on effective management of the LEE infrastructure backing it up with facts.

Quite disappointed that the State Government would permit the redesign and upgrade of LEE without a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment. If the recommendations of the author are not immediately considered, LEE may collapse before the next 4 years with severe attendant risks on the users and citizens, resident within this neck of the woods.

Nice one. Absolutely spoke my mind!

Abraham Idowu
biodunid04@yahoo.com
bb pin: 2B574264

OneDemola:
OP this is an excellent write up, can you share your details so we can speak more?

Mods: it's undignified to have to say this but do you mind putting this on FP so we can have a full and rich discussion pls? Thanks.

Everything shouldn't be centred around the island alone. The mainland is suffering from decay that needs urgent attention.

If Ambode does not listen and take d necessary action, Lekki as we know it will turn into another urban jungle where gridlock & mayhem will be the order of the day.

biodunid:
How does asking that Lekki get a 10 lane road, like the mainland, or flyovers, like the mainland, deprive the mainland of those assets it already has and will continue to get? Or can you count the flyovers and 10 lane roads that make mainland livable?

Am talking Outskirts where 40% of lagos lives
Am not talking about Yaba, Ikeja , Oshodi , Amuwo Odofin
AM TALKING ALIMOSHO, IFAKO IJAIYE

On a more serious note we at the lagos west axis have been complaining of neglect by lagos state government presence

Seun lalasticlala Fp please very fruitful replies needed

alienvirus:
How?

Can the inner streets/ Major roads handle the new influx of cars that the new bridge would bring...
To solve the island traffic problem, Rail development should be emphasized

jaybee3:
No brainer i tell ya

Their attempt to control flow of traffic with roundabouts is just laughable...visionless leaders

I have never seen such poorly designed routes.

I hear the roundabouts are cash cows for advertising.

Can anybody imagine trying to drive short straight distance - but having to spin around 20 times to do so? im surprised people dont get lost!

op brilliant write up, (though I didn't finish it)

anybody know how fa the court case RE the toll gates?

OP plz try to get this published in a newspaper e.g THE NATION. I hope the new govt would take note of these critical points you made.

Don't know what it takes to get published in the print press nowadays and am not about to pay a bribe to be published. If you can navigate that particular labyrinth am happy for your help. As for publishing in The Nation....did you miss the hints at underhand dealings in the article?

stevecantrell:
OP plz try to get this published in a newspaper e.g THE NATION.
I hope the new govt would take note of these critical points you made.

biodunid:
Don't know what it takes to get published in the print press nowadays and am not about to pay a bribe to be published. If you can navigate that particular labyrinth am happy for your help. As for publishing in The Nation....did you miss the hints at underhand dealings in the article?

Ive sent some articles via the editor's email (not Nation) and I got published twice without paying a dime. OK I understand why you might try another paper, like the Sun or Punch. You can get the editor's email from the editorial page.

Again OP, this is an excellent piece, and you have put together very credible points, and this write up is worthy to put into an editorial.

I happened to work on this project, and the end result is quite disappointing; more disappointing is even living within that axis. Everyday I feel like I'm getting fleeced just to leave my house (which is how I feel almost everyday in Nigeria, i.e. every Nigerian being a their own government).

The road design is extremely poor, what baffles me the most sheer number and size of the roundabouts, I still don't understand why this is the case. Additionally, the only time the road truly expands is at the toll gates, which is another hell-hole and a complete disorganized mess.

The honest truth is LEE is a failed PPP project, and with the recovery and loan restructuring expenses LASG has incurred (in the billions of Naira), I have to be honest to say that it is less than likely that LASG (as the now owners of LEE) would expend any additional money for capital expenditure (the road expansion/flyover bridge proposal OP has suggested), because frankly, that money is not there anymore.

The LEE project is truly the definition of bad planning. Compare this to the Gauteng E-Toll Roads (which had it's own major issues on its own, mind you), and you would see that LEE is a complete show-of-shame.

Please mods move this page to the front page, this topic needs more views.

Thanks for pursuing this further. In Africa whenever delivered projects depart so much from design or the dictates of common sense I recall an incident that happened almost a decade ago while I was on assignment in Ghana. The Tetteh Quarshie interchange in Accra had just been completed and it looked spanking to my naija eyes but the newspapers soon carried a front page news item concerning it. The chairman of NPP, the ruling party then, was quoted to have said he asked the contractor for the interchange to deliver the 10% kickback to him as party chairman so he could share it 'equitably' to all concerned parties but he was rebuffed by the contractor who said he had been instructed by the president, Kuffour, to pay it to him directly. At the end of the day what was supposed to be an interchange and a road was reduced to just an interchange. It took more foreign donations, from the US after Bush' visit to Ghana if I recall, for the road initially designed alongside the interchange to be delivered.

I never see African rulers as less than smart and don't see their policy and project missteps as innocent or due to incompetence. Each time we follow the money it becomes clear why things don't get done at all, don't get done the right way or fall apart mere months after they are done. I am just a regular road user who happens to find the egregious affront of LEE just too much to swallow hence my writing.

Beyond writing I wouldn't mind being part of civic action against tolling and the road that has been delivered but I fear that our compatriots don't have much stomach for anything that can inconvenience them in any way. Maybe there are smart civil counter strikes that can be carried out and will make an impact though. An example could be the monitoring of the worst roundabouts or the entire road for accidents which can be directly linked to faulty road design. Recording such avoidable deaths, injuries and property damage over a period of months will provide enough material for adverts in papers, online and on television which should shame the government into doing the needful. Imagine photos and videos of real accident scenes on the road and at the roundabouts being showcased regularly in the papers, online and on tv alongside analyses of the road flaws that led to them. Volunteers and interns could be used to stake out the road to collect data and victim testimonies.

Where this fails to work things can be escalated to an actual class action lawsuit where the same facts on the accidents should prove useful. Such a suit should be pursued to the Supreme Court or the ECOWAS court if necessary. The government would soon realise it has a relentless adversary and is likely to consider it cheaper to make amends instead of suffering irreversible electoral damage.

OneDemola:
Again OP, this is an excellent piece, and you have put together very credible points, and this write up is worthy to put into an editorial.

I happened to work on this project, and the end result is quite disappointing; more disappointing is even living within that axis. Everyday I feel like I'm getting fleeced just to leave my house (which is how I feel almost everyday in Nigeria, i.e. every Nigerian being a their own government).

The road design is extremely poor, what baffles me the most sheer number and size of the roundabouts, I still don't understand why this is the case. Additionally, the only time the road truly expands is at the toll gates, which is another hell-hole and a complete disorganized mess.

The honest truth is LEE is a failed PPP project, and with the recovery and loan restructuring expenses LASG has incurred (in the billions of Naira), I have to be honest to say that it is less than likely that LASG (as the now owners of LEE) would expend any additional money for capital expenditure (the road expansion/flyover bridge proposal OP has suggested), because frankly, that money is not there anymore.

The LEE project is truly the definition of bad planning. Compare this to the Gauteng E-Toll Roads (which had it's own major issues on its own, mind you), and you would see that LEE is a complete show-of-shame.

Please mods move this page to the front page, this topic needs more views.

I have tried that with the last three pieces I did (memos to GMB) but got nowhere. Might try again but happier to invest my time on Nairaland or NVS where I have assured audience versus chasing print. Thanks for the suggestion though and I might just rouse myself to follow your lead.

stevecantrell:


Ive sent some articles via the editor's email (not Nation) and I got published twice without paying a dime. OK I understand why you might try another paper, like the Sun or Punch. You can get the editor's email from the editorial page.

biodunid:
I have tried that with the last three pieces I did (memos to GMB) but got nowhere. Might try again but happier to invest my time on Nairaland or NVS where I have assured audience versus chasing print. Thanks for the suggestion though and I might just rouse myself to follow your lead.

You could try changing the title to a less confrontational one like "LASG come to our rescue on LEE".

biodunid:
Abraham Idowu
biodunid04@yahoo.com
bb pin: 2B574264

Guy, you are too much!! You nailed it! I have worked in this area for over 15 years, and it still amazes me how a once peaceful, orderly district could degenerate into such a chaotic mass of traffic, simply due to the government's ineptitude.

Instead of providing options like rail lines and ferries from Victoria Island through Lekki to the Free Trade Zone, to reduce the traffic, the authorities opted to toll the only arterial road leading to the entire district. Also, the proposed bridge leading from Langbasa to Ikorodu should have been constructed (and should still be constructed) urgently, to create an alternative route for those who need to link the mainland from Lekki. It will save them the hassle of getting to V/I or Ikoyi first, before driving another long stretch to the mainland as it will also reduce the number of cars on the Lekki-Epe Expressway!

The sad part is that most of the side roads that branch off LEE or even feed into it, are not connected to each other, so you cannot drive down from Sangotedo through Ajah to Treasure Gardens or Lekki Phase 1, entirely through the side roads, in a bid to avoid the traffic on the expressway!

My guy, please collect two bowls of 'isi-ewu' over there for your relaxation and enjoyment, and ask them to send the bill to me. It is on the house.

It is people like you that should be in the Senate representing our interests, not that strange consort that was forced down our throats by the so-called lion of Bourdillon!

Surprised this thread is yet to be posted on the front page. The OP has identified challenges affecting millions of people directly linked to the central economic hub of a strategic State like Lagos.

Nairaland management should the needful!

People are dying on this road daily and we need to be less confrontational? No one is begging LASG to do its job and spend our taxes on us. No one begged Ambode or any other politician to vie for office. 'Rescue' us from the mess they willfully and malevolently created? Pls count me out of such beggarly civic action.

stevecantrell:


You could try changing the title to a less confrontational one like "LASG come to our rescue on LEE".

Anthony to Ajah yesterday was three solid hours despite using side streets twice and leaving Anthony relatively early. Left home at 5.06 this morning and was at work on Lagos Island by 5.50am. Got out of bed at 4.15am today and every working day. I thank God for a relatively solid constitution and the grace to afford a driver. We keep praying for those with weaker constitution and / or who lack the means to pass some of the stress to a driver. God will also save us from the leeches in agbada who fill our government houses.

BTW the papers are reporting that NASS member are getting N8b next week as agbada allowance. No wonder most states can't pay wages. Too much waste at the federal level and too much wasted on governance generally.