New Gbagi Pedestrian Bridge – Ditching Safety for Death

By Olaitan Oye-Adeitan

If you’re asked, which will you prefer, to either take a longer but safer route to your destination or a shorter but risky one?

Certainly, responses will be different but, that is the question emanating from the scenario playing up at the New Gbagi International Market portion of the Ife -Ibadan expressway in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state.

For a very long time, pedestrians have formed the habit of crossing the highway via the road median rather than going through the pedestrian bridge meant for that.

This raises so much concern about people’s disposition to how much they value their lives.

Why would people abandon safety for a risky path? Some blame it on the collapse of the bridge some years ago when a heavy-duty vehicle lost control and rammed into it, resulting in its collapse. Others believe it is the usual attitude of many Nigerians to achieve their goals within the shortest and cheapest possible means.

One could recall that the government’s decision to construct was due to the high rate of mortality usually recorded on busy roads.

About a year ago, the pedestrian bridge was home to destitute and heaps of refuse and human excrement due to its abandonment by the people it was built for.

Consequently, a waste management consultant to the Oyo state government was employed to clear the bridge while sweepers were assigned to keep it tidy.

However, today, the bridge is an eyesore with just one or two pedestrians making use of the bridge.,

It now comfortably harbours filth, stagnant water, and algae while the very few people using it have to tiptoe and meander around a mound of faeces to avoid being messed up.