SUICIDE MISSION UNDER UNIBEN PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE ?

By : Besiru Enakhimion.

First, I attempted to title this piece as, "The stubborn fly accompanies the coffin into the grave",  as the great people of Esan land have put it in a parable. I eventually left it the way it is above to attract the University and the government to it, for a quick response and solution.

Some years ago, vehicular accidents were recorded at the front of the main gate of the University of Benin on regular basis. Some university students were victims of such accidents, that later resulted to riots and disruption of traffic. 

It was really difficult for pedestrians to cross the ever busy high way from one side to the other then.

It was to save the lives of motorists and the pedestrians that the government built a comfortable pedestrian bridge across the road. The bridge was meant for pedestrians to go across the highway  comfortably .

To prevent the stubborn pedestrians from taking the risk of crossing the dangerous road, the government further spent money to fix barb wires and strong metals on the pavement on the middle of the road . Is this not a commendable effort on the part of the government ?

To the surprise of this writer, some stubborn pedestrians have successfully cut parts of the barb wires under the bridge to create a passage through which they now cross from one side of the busy high way to the other. This risk is not peculiar to a particular age group. Women, men, youths and teenagers indulge in the risky adventure. Ironically, it takes such pedestrians longer time to cross the road because they have to wait for the ever busy road to be free before crossing, while those on the bridge walk at their pace to get to their destination safely. 

 This writer has spent sometime to watch this attitude of some pedestrians at different times. On Tuesday, the 4th of May, 2026, he decided to spend sometime to observe and record this suicidal action on camera.

The photograph shows three people who crossed from the university side of the road to the other. To successfully get to the other side of the road they spent much time, waiting for the road to be free before crossing . Is that not a suicidal mission ?  

 The agency of government in charge of the road should look into this bad attitude of pedestrians and cover up the passage created on the barb wires . Every necessary step should be taken to stop that indiscipline, while recalcitrant pedestrians should be arrested and prosecuted to deter others.  Some years ago, it was a punishable offence in Lagos state, for pedestrians to walk across the expressway wherever there was a pedestrian bridge . That can be done in this case.