What Is The Solution To Lagos Traffic Problem?

Editor’s Note: In recent months, the traffic situation in Lagos has worsened. Even with the threat by the governor to impound heavy duty trucks, places like Apapa are still under traffic lock down. What is happening?. How can this situation be addressed? Naij.com Lagos contributor Dami Ajayi looks into the traffic situation in Lagos.

Is it just me or is Lagos increasingly becoming a difficult place to live in?

I am convinced that it is not just me. Traffic, for one, has worsened since our new governor was sworn in. The easy 15 minute dash from Yaba to Ikoyi at downtime is now so unpredictable that you are better off staying at home if going out is not so important.

READ ALSO: What Ambode Needs To Do To Stop Traffic Jam In Lagos

Even at home, traffic threatens so hard that it begins at your doorstep. And we should all remember, on a humourous note, what Brother Fela said about “Go Slow”, especially the kind that catches up with you in front of your house.

Order has always been a problem of Lagos and understandably so, due to sheer size of its population, 17 million and counting. Hence it is the prerogative of those in the helms of affair to make sure that everything is not left to chances.

The passable antidote to traffic has been the LASTMA men in their yellow and red uniform, spotting pot belly and suffering shoes, and directing traffic, augmenting the capacity of the severely short-staffed Police Traffic wardens.

In this period, a mutually beneficial relationship existed between LASTMA officials and the Danfo drivers known to flout traffic rules by default. Rather than get punished, Danfo drivers got slaps on their hands (buses) with batons and got hollered at every so often. This produced fair results.

However private car drivers did not have it that easy; the LASTMA officials were more concerned with fetching scapegoats and offering them a leeway against punitive justice inside cars for the right bribe price. Corruption was a Nigerian staple until Brother Buhari came in with this new body language of a thing.

Now that traffic has worsened, other things have been added to the horrendous equation. Okada drivers are back, without their helmets. The tricycles riders are blessed with concrete-hard delusions of invisibility and immortality. Hawkers selling wares varying from Wande Coal’s latest music album to chilled canned Orijin are also present and most baffling of all, are the armed robbers.

Chaotic bus station in Lagos

So Adaeze, a conscientious Lagosian, is racing down Osodi-Apapa expressway last Saturday, listening to Beat F.M, watching the dull overcast sky that foretold a repeat of the rains she had endured from Lekki where she lives. She is running late for a charity event she organizes.

Traffic at the Osodi Bridge is severe for the time of the morning. She is charging her Blackberry phone beside her; her bag is neatly tucked away from prying eyes. Suddenly, two men appear on both sides of her SUV, the one closest to her opens a plastic covering, shows her a snub-looking gun.

The car in front of her is a hair’s breadth away. Her car window is slightly down but before she can check that her door is locked from within, his calloused hand pulls at the door and swings it open. Spitting invectives, he pulls at her gold neck chain, almost choking her and asks for her phone.

Commercial buses park indiscriminately to obstruct traffic

His accomplice observes from a reasonable distance like a substitute player ready to jump into the game. The car in front has moved a few inches and cars behind her blare their horns.

They took her phone and swaggered away, throwing furtive glances at her. You hear at least a dozen of these kinds of narratives on a daily basis. Adaezes, Solas, Esse, Talatus, etc.

READ ALSO: Seven Exciting Things TO Do In Lagos Traffic

Now this is the Lagos we live in, reminiscent of the notorious Up Iweka of Onitsha where different levels of crime reign supreme. The question of combating Lagos traffic, in my opinion, should not even arise if Ambode’s government is an exact continuum with Fasola’s.

In five months, one cannot categorically say that Lagos has shifted beyond the frontiers of where the previous regime left it. If anything, things have taken a downturn more than stay the same. Last week, news came that the governor himself, dressed in polo and jeans, apprehended traffic offenders popularly known as One Way specialists at Ejigbo.

LASTMA officials have become powerless

LagsMy concern about media presentation has always been the discernment of where public relations stops and where conscientious service begins.

No matter, this government has more than enough time to prove its worth, but meanwhile, Eko oni baje o!

 

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