What of
vehicles? Hmm, they have turned into canoes as they seek out the right way to
go through to avoid falling into a pot-hole or man-hole or even vehicle-hole…lol
Well, thank
God I made it to office in one piece albeit splashed by a little rain.
The state of
the roads in some parts of Lagos doesn’t make it easy for people to cope with
the rains and floods. The other day after it rained, a woman peddling oranges
fell into a big gutter while trying to find her way across the water-filled road.
She knew there were pot-holes on the road and decided to play smart by crossing
the gutter to get to the other side but the move proved to be not-so-smart
after all.
When I got to
the office, I was the first person in because majority of my colleagues are
stuck in traffic. You see where my concern for the state of our roads comes in
again? When it rains this way, the roads are messed up, your clothes get
drenched (If you have no car), and at he end of the day, take hours to get to
your destination because of traffic jam.
Let me
day-dream for a bit.
I leave my
house by 8.30am and head to work. I get to the office at 8.45am and resume
work.
That will
mean I journeyed from home to work in 15 minutes… Okay, Chynwe, snap out of it
and get back to reality!
But who says
this cannot happen in Lagos?
Someone told
me the other day that Lagos can never get to that point seeing as it’s a big
city. Examples such as India and some others were cited. It saddened me because
I am a very hopeful person. I hope and look forward to that day when I can go
from the Lagos Mainland to Island in less than an hour.
What the
traffic jam brought about by state of the roads and not enough roads for the
millions resident in the city of Lagos has caused eh, you cannot begin to say. In
fact, most of us here have come to look at it as a way of life. Some mothers
leave their homes early in the morning and get home late at night. That will
mean they spend very limited time with their children and husbands.
When it rains
like it did this morning, the hope of anyone returning home early is almost
shattered. I remember leaving my office with my husband and one year old son on
a certain Wednesday at about 6pm. It rained and so the traffic jam was
merciless. At about 11pm, we weren’t even close to home yet. I kept thinking of
my son, the many things I had to put in place for work that night against the
next day. When the clock struck 1am, I knew that I wouldn’t make it to work the
next day since I didn’t know when I would get home. We finally got home at 2am
the next day from a journey started over 6 hours before.
It’s not easy
coping with the Lagos traffic but it’s even harder when it rains. Does it then
mean we have to pray for the rains to go away? Nah… that will solve nothing
really. I think the prayer will have to be for more roads and existing ones repaired.
Till then,
let’s keep our fingers crossed while suffering and smiling.
Enjoy the
cold weekend folks!
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