By Ruth Ani

With the second semester over, ESUT students have been making their way back home. Those heading to Lagos have spoken of the severe traffic at the Benin Bypass that turned a normal seven-hour trip into a 24-hour ordeal, and in some cases stretched to two full days.

Our reporter, Ruth Ani, shared her experience of travelling to the South-West by night bus. She had planned to go with a course mate but circumstances kept them apart. She boarded the first bus, which left a few minutes before 8pm o Saturday evening . The journey went smoothly enough to reach Delta by 10:54pm, after which the driver switched to longer, riskier detours through Benin-Ekpoma-Auchi. She finally arrived in Lagos around 7am on Sunday morning.

Her course mate, Joy Onyinyechi, was less fortunate. She was stuck in the standstill from 3am until 5pm that same Sunday, she sat stranded with a dead power bank and phone, making her get home around 11pm in the night.

Another ESUT student, Michael Kelechi of Engineering faculty, whose bus left Enugu at 8pm the previous night faced the same lengthy delay and got home late in the evening that Sunday.

Another student, Victor Benita of Mass communication also shared in her words, “the holdup or standtill was so massive”.

This road has been an underlying issue but this has gone beyond worse as recent reports describe people remaining trapped for three days or more as the congestion worsens.

Meanwhile, Works Minister David Umahi has publicly praised President Tinubu for the Lagos-Calabar coastal road project, presenting it as a longer-term solution to the country’s transport challenges.