LAMECO Flyover Defect: CSOs Protest, Demand COREN, EFCC Investigation

Civil society organisations on Friday staged a protest in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, demanding a comprehensive investigation into the damaged section of the newly commissioned LAMECO Flyover.

The protesters, who marched from Freedom Park to the flyover, said the incident had raised serious concerns about the quality of work executed on the project, which was funded with public resources.

Carrying placards bearing inscriptions such as “Adeleke Government Should Tell Us Why the LAMECO Bridge Was Awarded to Quacks” and “We Call on EFCC to Investigate the Company That Constructed the LAMECO Flyover in Osogbo,” the demonstrators urged relevant authorities to uncover the circumstances surrounding the defect and ensure accountability.

Addressing journalists during the protest, the Executive Director of the World Institute for Peace, Lamina Kamiludeen Omotoyosi, called on the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) and the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) to conduct an independent technical assessment of the flyover.

According to him, the engineering bodies should determine the cause of the damaged section and establish whether the project complied with the required professional and engineering standards.

Omotoyosi described it as disturbing that a flyover commissioned less than one month ago had already developed a defect, urging the Osun State Government to demand explanations from the contractor responsible for the project.

He maintained that irrespective of whether the contractor had received full payment, the government owed residents a clear explanation on why the defect occurred shortly after the bridge was opened to traffic.

The activist also appealed to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate both the contract sum and the execution of the project.

“We are not saying that the government did not pay the exact amount requested by the contractor. However, whether the government paid the full amount or not, it should question the contractor on why this is happening barely one month after the flyover was commissioned. We also call on the EFCC and the ICPC to come to Osun and investigate the exact amount awarded for the construction of the LAMECO Flyover. These are our demands,” he said.

Responding to the concerns, the Osun State Director of Highways in the Ministry of Works, Engr. Moruf Ojebode, explained that preliminary investigations indicated the incident was a minor engineering defect caused by a void beneath the asphalt pavement and not a structural failure of the bridge.

He stressed that the flyover remained structurally sound, noting that the piers, beams, deck slabs and retaining walls were intact and had not been compromised.

Ojebode assured residents that there was no cause for alarm, adding that repair works had already commenced and that the flyover would be reopened to motorists within a day or two.

The incident occurred after a section of the recently commissioned 672-metre LAMECO Flyover developed a depression on Friday morning following several hours of heavy rainfall that lasted from Thursday night into Friday in Osogbo.

Governor Ademola Adeleke had commissioned the flyover on July 1, 2026, and opened it to vehicular traffic as one of the flagship infrastructure projects of his administration.