THIS LETTER IS FROM A NAIJABLAB READER................................................
Dear NAIJABLAB,
I am a resident of Sangotedo, on Ajah/Epe Expressway. I work in Victoria Island as a Dental Assistant. I therefore have to travel by public transport from VI, through Lekki Phase 1, Phase 2, Elegushi, Jakande, Chevron, Ajah, and Abraham Adesanya, on daily basis. It is bad enough sitting and sweating profusely inside the no-ending preposterous traffic jam on daily basis. It becomes worse when you get besieged by large numbers of destitute beggars, poking their heads and hands through car windows. Most times they target the big SUV Vehicles for obvious reasons.
Once you hit the road in the evening from Lekki, you start to encounter these nuisance. They are mostly Northern women. And believe me, they even look better-fed than most hard working Lagosians. Some of them carry innocent little children, which they use to call your attention, and sympathy. It is very bad. You start to wonder if they really understand the health implications of leaving these kids on the road between the never-ending lead-fumes oozing out from exhaust pipes of ramshakled vehicles. And believe me, they must get over dose of lead-poisoning, because it is bad enough when you are seated in a car without AC.
As soon as you get to the Ajah area, you cannot help noticing their mostly able-bodied male counterparts sitting in a procession along the Ado/Badore Road, obstructing pedestrian movements. They constitute a total nuisance to road users and commuters. I sometimes wonder where they sleep at night, and what toilet facilities they use. In other words, they are a health hazard waiting to erupt in Lagos. I cannot help feeling sorry for those who chose, many years back, to build their homes in that area when there was absolute sanity in the locality.
We hear that they all flocked over 'free of charge' from the North as they took advantage of the new Buhari Railway system from Kano. Also, because there is a strict prohibition of beggars in the VI/ Ikoyi areas, they all besieged the Lekki expressway, all the way through to Ajah. In as much as we appreciate their plight, which is unfortunately a fall-back of a failed nation handed down by the previous PDP Government, we (the Lagosians) also feel that they pose a security risk, especially in these days of Boko Haram. It shows how porous the security system has become of late.
Please, Naijablab, I am using your platform to inform Governor Ambode about a calamity in the making. He should please nip this in the bud ASAP.
Thank you sir.
Wande Macauley
(Dental Assistant)