A 14-day deadline to repair the highway connecting Abeokuta with Sango-Ota and Lagos State has been set by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the National Association of Ogun State Students (NAOSS).
The Lagos-Abeokuta expressway, which the students bemoaned for being in such terrible shape, “has now become a death trap and the hotspot of kidnappers and armed robbers,” they claimed.
The safety of drivers and other road users, particularly students from the several educational institutions situated along the route and in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun, was called into question by the student bodies.
They claim that they have set the Federal Government a 14-day deadline to start the road’s rehabilitation; if they fail to do so, they would shut down the route in a large-scale protest.
This was stated in a statement that was co-signed on Sunday by the National President of NAOSS, Oluwagbemileke Ogunrombi, and the Chairman of NANS in Ogun, Damilola Simeon.
The associations claimed that “no fewer than ten lives had been lost recently in various traffic incidents that occurred as a result of the awful condition of the road,” according to the statement provided to DAILY POST.
They remembered the recent kidnapping of two D.S. Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic students by unidentified gunmen on the same road.
They said that because of the bad condition of the road, armed robbers and kidnappers had been able to wreck havoc on the public’s trust.
They claim that because of constant armed robbery and kidnapping attacks by underworld guys along the road, the lives and property of drivers, other road users, and locals are no longer safe.
“We are pained by the wickedness and insensitivity of the Federal Government, which has subjected citizens of the State to unspeakable suffering by failing to repair the appalling Lagos-Sango-Abeokuta route.
“Our people have been going through hell for years, especially the thousands of students that travel the road every day.
The road has turned into a death trap for drivers and passengers, and armed robbers and kidnappers no longer pose a threat to their safety.
“Reports of car accidents, armed robberies, and kidnappings on the road are common.
We wish to urge the federal government to start rebuilding the road within the next 14 days, failing which the government will face the wrath of the Nigerian students. “We are concerned by these unfortunate events.
“We can’t just watch and do nothing as people are dying on the roads. The highest levels of government have horribly failed our people.
The statement said, in part, “The blood of those who have sacrificed their lives on that road is on the hands of the Federal government.”
