Chairman of Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State, Olusegun Onilude has come out to say that the deplorable state of the Badagry Expressway is affecting Lagos State’s economy.

He recently revealed this in a recent interview with the press, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, the present condition of the road has done Badagry and her people more harm, and it has also taken the state backwards.

He added that it is so bad that when you tell someone in Ikeja that you live in Badagry, the first thing they tell you is: “How did you come here? That your road!”

His words, “When you talk about the infrastructural deficit, for the past three years, what have you done to address some of the deficit?”

“When we came in, we looked at the area of promoting the economy of our people who are mostly petty traders, so we decided to create a conducive environment for them to do their buying and selling. We partnered with developers who went to the markets and transformed them. When you have a good market, it attracts customers, we have done our bit at Agbalata market in Badagry.”

“The Badagry roundabout, which used to be a hideout for hoodlums, has been transformed. In the primary health centres, we also ensured those that weren’t functioning because of their structures, start to function. We renovated some of them. We did Ajara flagship, we went to Topoijale, the structure there was bad so we pulled it down completely and built a new one.”

“On education, we identified some schools that had acute dilapidated buildings, like in Kikawest LA Primary School, we built a block of six classrooms. We did a similar thing at LA Primary School at Iyaafin. Education is not only about structure alone, we made it a priority, we identified indigent students who come to school tattered and made uniforms for them.”

“We organised debates for them, we encouraged them in the spelling bee program and we give them exercise books. We replaced the old black chalkboard with flannel boards in all primary schools in Badagry.”

“The present condition of the road has done Badagry and her people more harm. It has taken us backward.”

“It has almost cut us off from the rest of Lagos. It is almost cutting off Nigeria from the rest of West Africa. The expressway is particularly important to Nigeria if we know what we are doing because it is an international route.”

“The greatest harm it has done us is that development has ceased to come to Badagry. It is so bad that when you tell someone in Ikeja that you live in Badagry, the first thing they tell you is: “How did you come here? That your road!”