BusinessDay 01 Apr 2018

Sunday 01 April 2018
C002D5556
Metro 11
Lagos: The presidential visit of
pain, anguish and frustration
JOSHUA BASSEY, IFEOMA OKEKE &
DAVID IBEMERE
Thursday, March 29,
was a day of pain, anguish
and frustration
for millions of residents
of Lagos, Nigeria’s
centre of commerce. The
trouble was not a consequence
of any natural disaster that
was above human control but
an avoidable officially-inflicted
pain.
It was Nigeria’s version of
democracy, where public office
holders lord it over the people
who will always defy the searing
sun or downpour rain on
Election Day to go vote for their
presidents, governors, elected
representatives and council
officials.
Muhammadu Buhari, president
and commander-in-chief
of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, was coming on a twoday
visit. He was also billed
to attend the 66th birthday
celebration of Bola Ahmed
Tinubu, the ‘Lion of Bourdillon’
and national leader of
the ruling All Progressives
Congress (APC). The birthday
colloquium, an annual event to
celebrate Tinubu, was holding
at the Eko Hotels and Suites,
Victoria Island.
On the sideline, Buhari was
also to commission a new bus
terminal, Ikeja, built by the
Lagos State government, and
also perform the groundbreaking
of the Lekki Deep Seaport,
near the Lekki Free Trade Zone
(LFTZ). Too many programmes
packed in one day!
This would be the first official
working visit to Lagos
since Buhari won the 2015
presidential election; but this
visit turned out a pain on Lagosians
who sweated to put their
president in power.
Two days to the impending
visit, Edgal Imohimi, commissioner
of police (CP), Lagos
command, at a media briefing
announced certain roads
would be closed to traffic. Imohimi
listed Bank Anthony Way,
Ikeja, Agege Motor Road and
Ahmadu Bello, in Victoria Island
and parts of Ikoyi, among
the roads to be shut, but he
would not specify time, thus
leaving the people in suspense.
Thursday came and Lagos
woke up to a near total
lockdown of a city despite its
commercial nature. The frustration
that followed reverberated
in different sectors of the
economy- road transportation,
aviation, factories, private and
public offices, small businesses
among others.
Aside the declaration of a
work-free day by Lagos State
and the losses the government
stands to incur from shutting
its offices for 24 hours,
residents and businesses from
whom the state earns taxes
were hard hit, as some roads
were closed from 6:30am.
Caught in the midst of this,
residents who left their homes
very early in the morning hoping
to beat the situation wore
forlorn faces, reeling off long
catalogue of complaints as they
trekked through the streets to
their destinations.
In the aviation sector, heavy
traffic build-up around 7/8
along the airport road grounded
vehicular movements to a
halt, with security personnel
diverting traffic to nowhere.
Passengers travelling for
the Easter holidays were left
disappointed and frustrated
as gridlocks made it impossible
for them to access the Lagos
airport and major roads.
Trapped passengers were
seen disembarking with their
luggage and trekking long
distances to access the airport,
while others who could not
meet up missed their flights.
At the General Aviation Terminal
(GAT) and Murtala Muhammed
Airport Two (MMA2)
airlines kept announcing delays
in flights to accommodate
passengers who were yet to
get to the airport.
A commuter who spoke to
BusinessDay said he trekked
from Mangoro on the Lagos-
Abeokuta Expressway to the
airport despite the fact he left
home 5am. According to him,
there was no traffic flow on
the expressway as movement
was halted between Ile-zik and
PWD.
At Cement bus stop on the
same expressway, an old woman,
who identified herself as
Josephine broke down in tears
when she was informed she
had missed her flight.
“This is the first time I am
travelling by air. My children
pleaded with me to take flight
to my village at Owerri for the
Easter celebration. I was just informed
that my flight just took
off. I cannot walk for a long
distance; there was no way I
could have managed to trek to
the airport. I don’t know what
to do now or where to go,” she
lamented.
Airlines took various initiatives
to ensure their passengers
travelling do not get a raw
deal out of the route blockages
around the state
Obi Mbanuzuo, the accountable
manager of Dana Air told
BDSUNDAY that they had to
delay all their flights and messages
have been sent to passengers
on the developments
they were making to ensure
passengers are taken care of.
“The management of Dana
air has assured guests that
they will be re-accommodated
on the available flights for
free if they miss their flights,”
Mbanuzuo added.
Chris Iwarah, corporate
communications manager, Air
Peace Limited said “The challenge
we had was with guests
who encountered some difficulty
accessing the airport on
time. We had to tarry for some
time to enable some of them
get to the airport as Lagos is
our base.
“Although that decision
caused disruptions across our
network, it was the least we
could do in the circumstances
to assist our guests. As a customer-centric
airline, we had
to empathise with and find a
way to accommodate them
given the number of guests
affected.”
In Victoria Island, roads
such as Akin-Adesola Street,
Adeola Odeku, Sanusi, Ajose
Adeogun, Adetokunbo Ademola,
Idowu Taylor suffered
similar gridlock as motorists
diverted to them in their bid
to escape the traffic jam on
Ahmadu Bello Way.
“This is unfair, the duty of
the government is to provide
for its people. I have been on
this road for about three hours.
From Eleganza to the toll plaza
takes over two hours,” said a
man who identified himself as
Onwubiko.
A company driver, Mufu
Babalegba, who lives in Ikotun-
Egbe, in the outskirts of Lagos
and works on Victoria Island,
“all through the night I was
waking up intermittently to
check my watch to ensure that
I do not oversleep and get
trapped in the hold-up.”
He told BDSUNDAY at Bonny
Camp, Victoria Island, that he
had been on the road since
4.30 a.m. when he left home,
hoping to get to his office before
the road becomes impassable.
“This is 8.45am yet I have
no idea when I will get to my
office. This is unfair, must we
all suffer because the president
is coming to Lagos, why not on
Saturday if he must visit?”
Muyiwa Akintunde, a public
relations guru, was so frustrated
that he scripted on his
facebook wall: “Driving this
morning from the mainland to
Lekki-Epe highway, I listened
to Lagos Traffic Radio all the
way. The reports of agony by
motorists on the Ikeja axis as
a consequence of the road
closure ache my nerves. This is
a low for Akinwunmi Ambode.
“Having raised the bar these
past three years from where
Babatunde Raji Fashola left
it and the foundation Bola
Ahmed Tinubu laid, I least
expected Governor Ambode
to lapse into encouraging
idleness and sycophant in the
manner of the likes of Rochas
Okorocha, Yahaya Bello and
other governors who seemed
to love President Muhammadu
Buhari more than he loves
himself. Lagos is not known
for what we call “eye-service.”
“What’s the holiday for
(even for the state public workers)
when there’s a statutory
Continues on Page 12