Traders in the Ashade Ram Market, where a train derailed in the Agege area of Lagos five weeks ago, have lamented the closure of the road to vehicular movement.
Some of them who spoke to Newsbreak said they had suffered low patronage since the closure of the road.
Ajoke Akindele, a ‘Baba-Ijebu’ lottery operator said she had lost most of her customers as they find it needless to take a longer route when there are other operators closer to them.
“I want them to reopen the road, I have lost a lot of customers because they can’t go all the way round because they want to play ‘Baba-Ijebu’, some of them do branch on their way to/from work.
“But now that they no longer pass this road, I hardly make sales daily, unlike before the closed road,” she said.
Chinyere Nworie, a plantain seller along the road said they (market) have gone to complain to the Nigeria Railway Commission, (NRC) and they were told that the road has been fixed.
She said; “When we went to complain to them, they said it is trucks that ply the road across the rail that spoilt it, market has been really doll as you can see people no longer take this route and we make sales when we have more people passing this route.”
David Tunrayo, a pet drink distributor, narrating his own ordeal said since the road was closed, sales have been dropped drastically.
“Normally, we sell up to 50 packs of drinks or more daily but now we hardly sell up to 20 packs.
“Moving the drinks into the shop when the company brings them to us is very stressful, we have to cross to the other side of the road to bring the drinks to the shop and trying to load in customer’s vehicle.
Read: Agege Train Derailment: Articulated Trucks Responsible For Faulty Track, Says NRC
“I have to carry it all the way to where they were able to park their car else we will lose the remaining customers we have left.”
Ik Ozochioke, a boutique owner, said restocking is hard as he has not being able to sell off the ones in his store.
“I have goods I’ve bought for more than three weeks that are yet to be sold, the closed road is not treating us well I sometimes struggle to get transport fare home,” he said.
A commuter, Ugochukwu Obi, who is a clergyman, lamented the closure of the road saying it had made it difficult to access Ikeja from Agege, Abule-Egba and its environs.
“This road links Ikeja to Agege, Abule-Egba, Oko Oba and its environs, this is the only road that linked all this areas to the capital of the state.
“The other roads are under construction so they are no go areas, the government should do the needful and get the road motorable again,” he said.
Sulaimon Solomon, a lottery subscriber in Akindele’s shop, said thugs had seized the opportunity of the road closure to extort motorists. He claimed they charge as high as N500 to allow passage.
Read: How NRC’s Delayed Rehabilitation Caused Agege Train Accident – LASEMA
He accused the government of supporting them hence their refusal to ensure the road is reopen.
However, Khadijah Aroyewun-Adekomaiya, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), in a chat with Newsbreak dissociated the corporation from road closure saying they had played their pert by fixing the damaged track.
Adekomaiya said where there is level-crossing, the railway are more prone to write-away, hence the call for road construction across the track.
Read: One Dies As Train Derails At Agege-Ashade Ram Market
“The construction of roads across the rail is the sole responsibility of the community, local and state government because the train was already moving before the road construction, so the rail has the right over the road.
“After the incident, it became eminent to improve the construction of the level crossing, it’s been observed that the level crossing is sloppy and measures need to be put in place to level it, thereby making it less vulnerable to destruction. That is the focus of the NRC,” she said.
She however condemned the activity of touts collecting money before allowing vehicles use the road.
She stated that the thugs were not acting on behalf of the NRC. She promised to report their activity to the engineering department of the corporation.
CA
Discussion about this post