Lekki: Protests, traffic crisis as tolling begins

Amidst a flurry of protests and counter protests, traffic gridlock and outright disorder, the planned tolling of the Eti-Osa -Lekki Expressway, took off yesterday on a shaky note.

*Traffic congestion on the Lekki-Epe expressway toll gate

Commuters plying the axis had a hellish time as traffic spanned almost two kilometres on both stretches of the ever-busy road. It was confusion galore as some motorists refused to leave the plaza until they had collected to the last kobo, the balance of the money they paid as tolls.
Although the toll fees announced by Lekki Concession Company Limited LCC, the concessionaire handling the expansion of the 49.5 kilometre road, is N50 for motorcycles, N120 for saloon cars and tricycles, N150 for Sports Utility Vehicles, SUVs, minibuses and pick-up truck, N80 for commercial Danfo mini-buses and N250 and N350 for light trucks and heavy trucks and buses with two or more heavy axles respectively, most of the drivers did not come with the actual fare.
They search for “change” compounded the traffic crisis and fears are that if the traffic could be that bad on a Sunday noted for the lightness of its traffic, the situation may become unmanageable on work days. But both Governor Babatunde Fashola and the Managing Director of LCC appealed for calm, explaining that the problems associated with the take-off will ease as the days go by. Also, there was a high presence of Mobile Policemen on both sections of the road to maintain orderliness.
Some of the motorists who spoke with Vanguard expressed grievances at the tolling and called on government to fulfil its earlier promise to provide alternative route saying the only alternative route at Oniru Estate cannot serve the large population of residents of Lekki, Ajah and Epe respectively.
Some residents of the area who spoke to Vanguard said the tolling will cause a lot of problems on work days and may result in many people reporting late to work.
As a result of gridlock, commuters were stranded for hours and could not get buses to their respective locations. Similarly,  some commercial motorists increased their fare and made it unaffordable to commuters.
Being a Sunday, many worshipers could not get to their places of worship on time as the gridlock lasted for hours.
Residents of the area who had vowed to resist the government and the concession, gave up the fight when heavily armed policemen dispersed them from the scene. What was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration against the tolls turned sour when the policemen shot sporadically and arrested key officers of the Residents Association.

Brandishing placards some of which read “Who is behind the LCC? Why not collect tolls Bourdillon, No tolling on Lekki axis, Where is the real Governor of Lagos”, among other placards.
The protest which started at about 10 am, saw many protesters wounded when the anti-riot Policemen, led by Commander of the state Rapid Response Squad, RRS, Hakeem Odumosu fired tear gas canisters to disperse the teeming protesters. The protesters were made up of both the young and old working professionals resident in the area.
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