A section of Benin-Ore-Sagamu Road is a dreaded Federal Expressway that most Nigerians dread most, especially during the rainy season; and it has been so since the road was constructed.High-profile government officials visit the site whenever the cries reach very high pitch, like the visit of Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke when she was the works minister. After such visits and follow-up talks, we expect a permanent solution that will give respite for years to come. But no, it is not to be. The following rainy season, in spite of the pronouncements, the problem continues.Where does the problem lie' Is it that the so-called Nigerian experts do not know what to do or that the government has no money and/or goodwill to execute the permanent solution to the problem' As a civil engineer, I defend Nigerian engineers and geologists. The problem lies with the government that must provide the goodwill and the funds.As a young civil engineer in the Federal Ministry of Works in 1964/65, I led a team that carried out a survey through Onigbongbo bush and swamp that started at the present Maryland junction in front of the Catholic Church in Lagos. The route passed through very thick swamp where, in most cases, we could not find firm ground to stand the Theodolite. We were always in rain boots and other bush navigation equipment. We were to provide cross section levels at 100 ft. intervals and 100ft. wide cross-sections, 50ft. on each side of the centre line.The assignment was to connect two known points through an unknown route. We completed the assignment and submitted the plotted centre-line and cross-sections to our boss. Ours turned out to be one of the preliminary works that produced the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway several years later.Similarly, Ijora Causeway in Lagos, from Railway Terminus at Ebute Meta to 7-Up factory in Ijora was under constant levelling, carried out about four times a year. The levels were plotted on a chart. The objective of the work was to determine when the settlement of the soil would stop and the construction of a permanent road would be done. Meanwhile, the road surface was on temporary interlocking blocks. It became obvious that the settlement would not stop in the foreseeable future.The road was eventually constructed as deck-on-pile, which means that the entire length of the road of about two kilometres was built on piles. However, the road level lies on the ground level so that later visitors think it is a normal road at the ground level.Similarly, as you leave Lagos going towards Ibadan, you see a section of the road as a very long bridge on dry land where no river exists. That is another deck on pile, with the road surface well above the ground level. In this case, like the Ijora Causeway, the soil was found to be unsuitable to carry a road. The normal practice of cutting away and replacing with good quality laterite imported from somewhere else could not be done. That was because the depth of the unsuitable material for the entire distance involved was very high and would be very uneconomical to cart away and replace.Piling and heavy pile caps on them with the follow-up piers to carry the deck road were seen as the best alternative. I think that time, the government listened more to the professionals than is the case today. The suggestion of the Director of Federal Highways, Federal Ministry of Works, was taken and we had no problem driving on that section of the road today.We should use the knowledge of Ijora Causeway and the deck-on-pile section of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to solve the perennial problem of the Benin-Ore-Sagamu Road. The deck-on-pile road section should be on a new alignment to minimise hardship on road users. It should be about 200 meters from the existing road, except where obstacles and soil structures make it otherwise. It should be wider than the existing road, at least four lanes in each direction to cope with the increasing traffic.If 50 per cent of the money wasted in the palliative annual rituals on that road were spent in constructing deck-on-pile road as suggested here, our problems on that road would have ended. The total distance involved may not be more than 20km. Nigeria has the engineers and geologists to deal with the soil structures in the planning and design of the project. We also have capable contractors to handle the construction works.The quality of any road depends on what the financier is ready to pay. Many Nigerians today blame contractors for poor job, while those contractors may be working according to the specifications given to them by the financier. However, that will not excuse contractors who do not execute up to specifications.Another point of importance is that such a project should be broken up into many sections of not more than 2km per contractor. That way, the project can be completed within four or five years, from planning to construction. Since the Federal Executive Council takes time to capture a project in the budget, the Federal Ministry of Works should start the preliminaries now if they have not done so already.If the man-hours lost on the Benin-Ore road every rainy season is computed by economists, it will be seen that building the deck-on-pile on the road sections is the most economical alternative for the nation.Obidike, retired Deputy Director, Federal Ministry of Works, wrote vide nwankwopatrick@yahoo.com
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