A student attending to his home work under poor illumination while in the gridlock
Members of the University community got more than they bargained for last Thursday, as they became stranded in a traffic gridlock that lasted over eight hours.
As from 2.00pm, motorists driving out of the University campus were forced to a snail-speed, no thanks to a traffic hiccup that had built-up along the Abeokuta-Ibadan Highways and extended to Isolu Village from Camp, therefore triggering distress calls to warn unsuspecting staff and students, that were still engaged in some routines in the University.
The situation became compounded by the official closing time, when most staff and students had trouped out on the road, to retire home, but had their hopes shattered as they could barely move in the traffic.
Investigation by the crew of FUNAAB Bulletin indicated that the gridlock occurred when several vehicles, including two heavy-haulage, got trapped in the mud that was piled-up after laterite-sand was spread on the bad portion of the Abeokuta-Ibadan Highway at the spot opposite the Vehicle Inspection’s Office (VIO).
An eye-witness and Director of the University’s Community-Based Farming Scheme, Dr. Joe Atungwu, said, “It was an error using laterite to patch the road. As soon as it rained, the laterite became mud, making the road to become slippery and the situation that we are witnessing”.
FUNAAB Bulletin noted that students being conveyed in the University and commercial buses had to disembark while several staff, including the high-brass, abandoned their vehicles around Isolu Village, to continue the journey home, on legs.
Most of the commuters who expressed their displeasure at the ugly incident, asked both the Federal and State governments to find a lasting solution to the issue. They contended that governments should consider the utility value of the road and put some measures in place to avoid a reoccurrence of such situation as summed-up by a commuter.