Surulere Residents Petition Reps Member Over Poor Road Construction

Residents of Anjorin Community Development Association, under Baruwa Ward in Surulere 2 Constituency, have petitioned their Representative at the House of Representatives, Lanre Okunola, over the parlous state of their roads and shoddy construction work embarked upon by contractors engaged for the project.

According to the residents, after the drainage was cleared in August 2024 in preparation for road construction, the street, a major artery of the community, has been left unattended, with weeds growing along the roadside.

They noted that even when construction of drainage commenced after enduring untold hardship for almost two years, with their culverts and entrance slabs broken, the contractors engaged artisans lacking proper experience and supervision.

In the petition signed on behalf of the Anjorin CDA, its chairman, Mr Kehinde Okelade, noted that compared to adjoining roads like Onadeko Street, which was undertaken in 2025 by the Itire/Ikate LCDA and completed within seven months, that of Anjorin, which commenced in 2024, has been stalled and is now being poorly executed.

He said: “Sometime in August 2024, clearing of drainage commenced on Anjorin as preparation for the construction of the road. However, it was not until June 2025 that we noticed the breaking of culverts in front of buildings.

“Finally, the construction of the drainage commenced and we observed that the iron rods used for the construction were so tiny, below the required specifications and the work was being executed by mallams without any engineer on site for supervision.

“We noticed one of the notable CDA members from Ramoni Ward, by name Ayo, was the one supervising the construction. This prompted us to raise an alarm because the said Ayo is not an engineer and does not have any qualification known to us for handling road construction. At the time of writing this petition, the CDA has yet to meet with the contractor handling the project.

“To our chagrin, Ayo instructed the mallams to dig up the Akanji road junction by Anjorin, thereby preventing residents of Akanji from accessing their street. The action was taken without formally informing the CDA or the residents of Akanji Street.

“The construction of Onadeko was attested by residents of our CDA as the best road construction in Surulere. Sadly, Anjorin Street, which takes more traffic flow, is being poorly constructed and will likely fail just as we are currently experiencing with Cole Street. Cole Street was constructed in 2024 using CRCP (concrete) construction, but today, major parts of the road have failed. We have video evidence for both Anjorin and Onadeko, which will be made available to you”.

Mr Okelade, however urged the legislator to salvage the situation by undertaking an unscheduled visit to the area and ensuring that taxpayers’ funds are properly utilised.

“As leaders within the community, we have been receiving so many complaints from residents regarding the state of Cole Street and also Anjorin about the poor construction and the slow pace of the construction, which has been ongoing for about two years”, he added.