Emeka Nwosu is a 35-year-old Nigerian. He runs the heavily used clothing business. In this part of the world, people call it an okrika business.
The young man says he is almost developing high blood pressure. He may be right, he may be wrong, I don’t know.
But why high blood pressure? I dare to ask him the other day.
Well, the fairly used clothing merchant lives in Ifo, Ogun State, Nigeria. However, he travels every day to the Kotangowa market, located at the super bus stop in Lagos.
The truth is that the market is a popular meeting point, where vendors and merchants meet daily to negotiate all kinds of used items thrown into my beloved country.
Call it tokunbo or dumping market and you may not be wrong. God bless Nigeria, my beloved country.
Emeka also explained that he wakes up around 5 a.m., Monday through Saturday, boards the next available bus from Ifo to inland Lagos, along the Lagos-Abeokuta highway.
At the Owode, Iyana-Olopo bus stops along the highway, the story line could change, on both sides, as motorists could stand still or slow down for hours.
Thousands of Emekas traveling the route could become so frustrated that some of them could be forced to get off the bus and board cyclists to cross.
Others can abuse the government to the heavens by subjecting it to difficulties, poverty.
But, keep in mind that Julius Berger, the construction giant, is currently rebuilding the highway from the Zik bus stop in Lagos to km 60, at a cost of N22.39 billion. The contract was awarded to the company on May 14, 2014.
When it rains the whole route becomes swampy and people, buses, cyclists and keke marwa operators etc get stuck at bus stops or walking through the swampy grounds.
When the sun is shining high in the sky, it’s a different ball game, as people and motorists will have to cover their eyes and nose for fear of dust. Here begins blindness or cataracts.
Victoria Monday, a trusted secretary who lives in Ewekoro and works in Lagos, is one of the thousands of people who do not find it funny to travel that route on a daily basis.
The swampy and dusty nature of the route has almost forced me to resign my appointment and go into agriculture, he told this writer.
Jamiu, a commercial bus driver, however, is thankful for the hell on earth people and motorists pass along the route, every day.
We make a lot of money when it rains as we will increase transportation fees.
Checks revealed that from Ogun State to Lagos, along the highway, depending on the entry point, bus drivers could pick up N500 to N1000 from each passenger, under the pretext that it is raining.
But take it or leave it, the stop, the slow march, the stress, the mugging, the increase in transportation fees, the swampy terrain, the dusty roads, etc. are all experiences that we have to go through right now. to get to the promised land eventually.
None of us can escape. None of us should condemn or dismiss the government of President Muhammed Buhari for trying to rebuild a highway that has been abandoned for years.
I rode that route four times this week and found that Julius Berger has realigned the route to ease the load on people and motorists.
I am optimistic that we will soon move from hell to heaven when it comes to rebuilding the highway. Keep praying and meditating for Nigeria.