Road users Groan At Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Causes Gridlock as a tanker accident occurs. Many commuters and motorists were held in traffic jams on Friday after two fuel tankers dropped in Lagos-Ibadan Expressway's OPIC end, inwards Ogun State and spilling out their contents.
To remove the tankers a section of the expressway was cordoned off, resulting in a traffic backlog that extended Lagos inwards. The accident occurred around 6 am but as of 1 pm, the second tanker was still being tried by emergency officers.
Hundreds of motorists spent hours in traffic while some commuters resorted to trekking as the blocked route was avoided by commercial buses.
A motorist, Deji Alarape, said he entered the gridlock from the Lagos area of Aguda, Ogba, and spent about three hours driving past the scene of the occurrence.
He said, "I live in Ogba and work in a factory in Ibafo, state of Ogun. I left home at 7 am but wasn't at work until about 10.30am. I was in the traffic for three hours.
Another commuter, Idris Babatunde, told our correspondent he was witnessing the traffic moving from Palmgrove down to OPIC at a snail's pace.
Babatunde, who works at a Mowe real estate company, lamented having reached the office at 3 pm after he left his residence in Surulere about 11 am.
He said, "By the time I got to the office I was tired. At 1pm I had rendezvous with some clients and two hours earlier I left home. This is a trip that typically takes about an hour, but I've spent four hours. It was bad.
A commuter, Ismail Durojaiye, said he was trekking from Ogba to Ojodu-Berger, as the route was avoided by commercial buses.
Giving an update on the incident about 1 pm, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyitolu, General Manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, said the falling tankers were carrying diesel and petrol respectively, adding that the scene had been cordoned off to avoid escalation.
He said, "As a result, a section of the road from New Garage (Ojodu-Berger) to Mowe was cordoned off to prevent secondary incident while contra flow was set up to reduce delays. To reduce delay and ensure safety for all road users, all traffic management, security and emergency management agencies were on the scene managing the incident and traffic."
Later the LASEMA boss told Punch correspondent that they had removed the other tanker and restored normalcy.
