Rotimi Ige spoke to people who live, school or work around the popular Queen Elizabeth road, in Ibadan. He recounts their ordeal in this report since construction work began on the road over a year ago.QUEEN Elizabeth Road is one of the important roads that enjoy heavy traffic in Ibadan. The main reason is because it is the road that leads to the University College Hospital (UCH), a teaching hospital of international repute and which caters for a huge number of patients from all parts of the country and West Africa.The road also branches out to the Agodi gardens, the state secretariat road, schools etc.The road, last year, was marked for re-construction by the former governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala. At that time, work commenced on the road but was stopped after his tenure ended.Now, almost a year later, nothing tangible has been done to make the road motorable and motorists have been recounting tales of woe.Worst affected are the staff and patients of the UCH, who have, for the past one year, been saddled with the burden of negotiating the numerous potholes and general rough terrain of the stretch of the road.The quantity of dust raised when vehicles pass by pedestrians is better imagined than experienced.When Nigerian Tribune visited the area, nearly all pedestrians on the road, had face masks on. It was reminiscent of an area marked for quarantine.Mr Reis Okwonkwo, a business man, who owns a shop along Queen Elizabeth Road, had alot to say about how the road had constituted a nuisance to him, especially his car, as he had to buy a more rugged car but which was less pleasurable, just because he didn't want his other car spoilt.Already, he had changed the shock absorbers of his previous car twice, before he decided to buy a smaller car.He pleaded with the government to complete the road in the shortest possible time.Mr Michael Adepoju, the principal pharmacist at the UCH, told the Nigerian Tribune about how the dust raised on the roads was a potential health threat to residents and staff of the UCH alike as the cases of catarrh, sore throat and other respiratory infections had risen in the area. He stressed that the reported cases of respiratory infections in the hospital were steadily on the rise. He also said that he had been having problems with his car in recent times, all because of the state of Queen Elizabeth road, which he had to pass every morning to work."We are facing a potential health risk and we are doing nothing about it. The dust raised by passing vehicles is a major threat to the people around that area as they are susceptible to contacting respiratory infection that if not quickly treated, could lead to complications which could be life threatening."Besides the fact that the road is causing damage to our cars, the health risk posed by the state of this road is of utmost importance", he stressed.Mr Taiwo Afolabi, a health assistant, harped on the reasons the speedy completion of the road was necessary.Afolabi stressed that due to the abandonment of the road for almost a year, more people had been dying because of the rough roads. He said that some emergency patients had died on their way to the hospital because of the entry point to it that had been blocked."The entry point to UCH has been blocked! Now, people have to go up to Omolewa junction and turn or pass through East Gate before they can be rushed to the hospital. Now, the queue into the hospital is so long that sometimes it could stretch up to the state secretariat. For patients that are being rushed in, they sometimes have to queue for over 35 minutes and sometimes they die before they can get to the emergency ward."Also, some pregnant women have problems getting to the theatre on time especially when they are referred to UCH because of complications during child birth. The road is the main link to the entrance of the hospital and the blockage at the entrance and the bad state of the road are a major problem."If the government does not want to embark on the project yet, they can at least wet the road with water twice or thrice a day to reduce the dust. The government should deliver their electoral mandates and end the suffering", he said.For Mrs Sarah Obioru and Miss Shobowale Olubukola, the health hazard posed by the dust raised on the road was life threatning as they had had to battle catarrh, sore throat and other infections for months now. They also stressed that, most times, they had to re-dress at the office because by the time they got there, they were usually covered in dirt.They implored the government to, as a matter of urgency, complete the road.The Queen Elizabeth road is also home to numerous road sellers and shop owners, majorly pharmacists, mechanics and edible food sellers.They complained that since the road construction commenced, sales had generally dropped, especially for the food and fruit sellers.Mrs Kehinde Omoniyi, a roasted corn seller at the entrance of the UCH, complained bitterly about low sales since the road construction had started.She explained that the reason for this was because people were no longer willing to stop or cross over because of the mass of dust and dirt raised by passing vehicles."We no dey see market sell again o. All our customers no de wan pass this road again because of this dust. See as we cover our nose and mouth with mask. Na wetin we dey face everyday since them cut the road be dis o", she said in pidgin.Mrs Funmi Korede, a fruit seller, corroborated the story, adding that owing to the present state of roads, she had been finding it difficult to cater for her family, because of low sales."Even if they want to buy, most times, our wares are covered with dirt and so people refrain from purchasing. The government should come to our aid", she said.Also, a visit to the pharmacies and car dealers along the road revealed that most of them had a Herculean task battling with dust and low patronage.But in a twist of circumstances, some chief beneficiaries were discovered and your guess must have been right; Mechanics, face mask sellers and vulcanisers around Queen Elizabeth road.A mechanic along the Kunle Ara junction, who pleaded annonymity, told the Nigerian Tribune that for over nine months now, they had been enjoying steady patronage and that they (his workshop) had even hired more hands in order to meet the demand of customers.He hinted that they now provide emergency services for broken down vehicles along the road, by having some mechanics survey the stretch of road every two hours.When asked whether he was also praying for the completion of the road, he simply laughed and declined comment.Also, a vulcaniser along Omolewa junction, who was coincidentally busy when the Nigerian Tribune visited him, said that patronage was now steady and rising.He, however advised, motorists to always gauge their tyres so as to reduce cases of tyre bursts due to uneven pressure.It was noticed that most motorists had now started bypassing the road by using the secretariat road. Nigerian Tribune also learnt that due to the boycott of the road by most taxi cab operators and okada riders, there have been reported cases of pedestrians being robbed of their belongings at night.This trend, according to many, is unsatisfactory and must stop, while calling on the state government to, as a matter of urgency, to come to their aid.When the Nigerian Tribune visited the state Ministry of Works, most of the officials declined comment and had not reacted as of the time of this report. As it is, only time will tell whether the sufferings of the people living, schooling, working and receiving treatment along the famous Queen Elizabeth road will continue.
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