SOLVING TRAFFIC CHALLENGES IN LAGOS.
Ọ̀gbẹ́ni-Fẹ́mi Otawa.

Lagos | Nigeria.

When Lagos (‘Eko-akete’) comes to the mind of a typical Nigerian, the name rings a bell to many context that we might define it to be, frankly speaking, traffic challenges is a big social problem to every ‘Lagosians’ and to those who come to the state for one business or the other. It is an occurring social menace to the state; no thanks to the poor economy condition of the country which is increasing the population of Lagos state; there’s a massive influx of persons from every region of Nigeria seeking for greener pastures and supposed ‘beta-confam’ life in Lagos. As a Lagos resident, I can personally tell you how day-day traffic challenges have ruptured some of my schedules last year alone.



If I would be honest with you, I will tell you Governor ‘Jide Sanwo-olu is trying all possible to ensure there are palliative measures to solve this state menace. Sadly, however there’s no quick fix to traffic problems in Lagos state. To realize a solid solution, it requires an adequate process which must be followed; Firstly, there’s a need for total demolition of all unnecessary Round-about and ring roads, given for example the round-about at Maryland and Lekki phase1 is unnecessary, there could have been a standard traffic light or a Robotic technology installed to manage vehicular movement along that axis, it would help reduce traffic congestion rapidly.




Secondly, another major reason why there are traffic congestion in Lagos, there are many elites who go to their workplaces Monday’s-Friday’s with their cars, and unfortunately most workers move out at the same time so as to meet up with the 8am official resuming time. Who created the idea of every organization resuming by 8am in Nigeria? Well only God knows. In a saner clime, not all companies and organizations are expected to resume by 8am at once, some are structured to resume by 8am, 9am, and 10am. With this model, this would reduce early morning rush on Lagos roads and hereby reduce traffic congestion in Lagos.



However, encouraging most workers to use the BRT for their daily movement and parking their various cars at home would have been an effective idea, but sadly, this ’naija mentality’ that everyone must flaunt and show off their vehicles to their workplace is another factor. Last quarter of 2019, I was privileged to secure a ‘2-days in a week’ per-time job provision in Ikorodu axis while residing in Yaba, with this I am a frequent user of the Public mass-transit known as the ‘BlueBRT’ for my movement during the week. It’s always a herculean task to get ticket and queuing for minutes if not hours as the case maybe for the next BRT bus to convey passengers. The management running this BRT’s are not well organized. Many at times people are discouraged and being frustrated to use the BRT due to many flaws they encounter virtually every day with the BRT ‘wahala’, most importantly as we know Lagosians are always on the move, most people run business activities and they will want to meet up with time, Lagos state Government needs to fashion out good plans in making the BRT system work effectively for everyone so as to encourage people to use the public mass transit system inorder to solve traffic issues on the highway.


SOURCE: https://www.femiotawa.com/2020/02/solving-traffic-challenges-in-lagos.html

Femi is a Creative writer, digital marketing Pro. He writes and Blog from Lagos, Nigeria.