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“Is it not funny that one spend above the number of hours travelling interstate to moving within Lagos? As an avid traveller, I’m always conscious of the time spent on roads, particularly within states. In 2019 alone, I travelled to over 30 Nigerian states including FCT because of the nature of my job. While my travelling experience is not limited to Nigeria and roads, however, I must state categorically that my worst travelling experience ever is within Lagos metropolis,” those were the words of a commuter friend who identified himself as Jide in one of the bus rides while conducting interviews for this report.
No doubt, Lagos is the commercial, economic, as well as financial capital of Nigeria accounting for over 50 percent of Nigeria’s industrial and commercial establishments, as well as 70 percent of manufacturing activities.
It is one of the few states in Nigeria that has enjoyed stability of ‘continuity’ politically. One can safely say, the party that has been in power since Nigeria’s return to democracy rule in 1999 is still holding forte till today.
Aside the political ‘goodluck’ it enjoys, Lagos, in addition, has the most active stock exchange in West Africa; its four ports collectively handle about 75 and 90 percent of Nigeria’s imports and non-oil exports by weight respectively. Even more, its international airport handles about 80 percent of airborne exports and imports and 80 percent of passenger movements in and out of the country. Yet, despite these heavy responsibilities and its attendant financial gains, the state is still in a comatose, infrastructure wise.
A recent CNN report, authored by a Nigerian correspondent said over eight million people transit in five million vehicles on a tiny network of just 9,100 roads daily. The report further posited that Lagosians spend an average of 30 hours in traffic each week — or 1,560 annually — while drivers in Los Angeles and Moscow traffic spent only 128 and 210 hours respectively in the whole of 2018.
Another recent study indicates that at least three of every ten years spent in Lagos is lost to traffic. It means Lagosians spend an average of seven hours, 20 minutes in traffic daily.
The above is a mild representation of the sorry state scenario of everyday life in Lagos. The roads are bad in both the rainy and dry seasons, hence the daily challenges of moving within the state all year round.
It has been argued overtime that the state does not sleep. An average (employed) Lagosian [particularly those leaving on the mainland working on the island] leave home as early as 4 a.m. to meet up with a 7:00/7:30am resumption time. One need not stress the danger involved in leaving home at such ungodly hours of the morning as many hardly move past their houses before the waiting daredevils struck.
However, despite its peculiar transportation challenges, the state’s population has continued to grow rapidly – put at between six to eight percent per annum. Over the years, Lagos has remained the centre of attraction for young school leavers and other economic migrants from other parts of the country. It is projected that the population of the city will grow to an alarming 36 million this year (2020) alone.
The state is further projected to become the world’s biggest city by 2100, with a population of 88.3 million.
Daily loss of productive time, resources to traffic
Despite being the richest and highest revenue generating state in Nigeria, Lagos still loses a huge part of its wealth to the daily productive time its workforce and active residents spend idle in traffic. Corroborating this claim, the immediate past governor of the state, Akinwunmi Ambode during his early days in office said the state loses over N42 billion monthly to traffic congestion.
If there is anything, employers do not joke with time and productivity. In some climes, employees are paid based on the time and productivity input into the organisation. However, the productivity rate of most Lagos employees constantly drops due to the daily monstrous traffic challenges on virtually all the roads. If channeled to work, the number of hours lost to traffic daily would have increased productivity for the organisation and pay for the workers.
A foreign employer in the FMCG sector based in Ikeja said ‘Nigerians are very hardworking but their productivity is most times hampered by unnecessary stress on the road to their workplaces.’
He speaks further: “I’ve been in this country for about five years and I’ve come to fall in love with Nigerians particularly those in Lagos here. Their patience and never say never attitude is rare. They rarely depend on government for anything.
However, despite all these commendable attributes, productivity in Nigeria is low. You know we are based in the manufacturing sector and time is of the essence. Many of my employees here come late to work and even if they are early they are most times exhausted before the start of work for the day because of the hectic traffic situation they must have faced. I’ve had to fire quite a number when I took over because I wasn’t used to the traffic situation they give as excuses till I became a victim myself. I later adjusted and we divided work hours to shifts to further improve productivity.
I think the country will be better for it if the government can provide and fix basic amenities where and when necessary. Nigerians spend too much time on the road doing nothing and that is something that should be of concern to all the tiers of government.”
‘We are tired of Lagos but can’t leave’
One of the most common phrases from respondents while conducting this interview is that ‘Lagos is a dead zone to live in.’ However, what baffles this reporter is the alarming rate at which visitors from other parts of the country and indeed the world throng in on a daily basis either in search of greener pastures or in pursuit of some business deals. In fact, as I later found out, some people have no business or relative whatsoever in Lagos. They just feel there is a magic wand somewhere in Lagos that automatically blesses its residents. Aslo, verified data shows the exit rate of people out of Lagos is extremely low compared to the entry.
“My brother, we all know that life in Lagos is hard but there is no state in Nigeria that carry such commercial status as that of Lagos. That is the sad reality here today. Most of my friends left for Abuja, Onitsha, and still ran back here when they cannot cope. More so, some of us run businesses in other states as well but the Return on Investment (ROI) and daily sales is nothing compared to what is obtainable in Lagos. This is why many of us have decided to manage the challenges here while also making the money”, Jude, a spare parts dealer in Oshodi told me on inquiry about why he remained in Lagos despite his complaints of ‘hard life’.
Another respondent who confessed to have made several attempts at leaving the state said: “I’ve made several attempts at leaving this state in the past. The traffic situation that you are talking about is not even my problem. I can manage through that. However, what is killing for me is the insecurity and epileptic power supply. My area is so bad that we can go a whole month without electricity and they will still bill us. Also, the infiltration of these young boys who go around harassing and robbing people in broad daylight is quite alarming. We have complained and even recruited private security firms but it’s rather getting worst. However, I’m very key to my organisation and several attempts at seeking transfer to neighbouring states was firmly rejected. The management insisted its either I remained in headquarters (here in Lagos) or forget the job. They however changed my apartment when the messy state of the former apartment was telling on my productivity at work. That was why and how I abandoned the idea of moving out for now. But if I have my way, I’ll still leave”, Victor, an IT specialist said.
Lagos drivers are difficult to control – Traffic wardens
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), an agency set up during the administration of then Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu to address the peculiar traffic challenges in the state said majority of the drivers in the metropolis are disobedient, nonchalant and in some cases ignorant of traffic signs and rules.
An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the agency was doing all it could to ease the traffic situation. According to him, ‘Lagos drivers, particularly the commercial ones are never patient. They are always in a haste to move all at the same time. They flagrantly disobey traffic rules and this in itself is a problem. Traffic do not just happen. It is caused by motorists’ disobedience and impatience. That is why we impound a lot of vehicles these days. The administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is not taking the issue of traffic lightly.”
Speaking in a similar vein, a police traffic officer said the Force has been helping to manage traffic situation by positioning its men in strategic areas prone to traffic. He said just recently, the new Lagos Police Commissioner, Hakeem Odumosu approved the posting of over 1,000 specially trained officials as part of efforts to ease traffic burden on residents of the state.
‘We are doing the best we can. But drivers need to take it easy. Everybody cannot move at the same time. They need to obey traffic rules where and when necessary.”
However, a commercial driver, Akeem Ayinde who spoke in native dialect (Yoruba) absolved his driver colleagues of any blame. He rather blamed the traffic officials for the recurring traffic situation on major highways in the state. “See they (pointing at the traffic officials on duty) are the ones causing the hold up themselves. Rather than address traffic, they’ll be busy looking for offenders to arrest and extort money from. If a tanker or any vehicle for that matter should fall on the highway, rather than tow such immediately, they will pretend like they didn’t see it till it causes heavy traffic. The issue is business seem to boom for them when there is traffic. I’m sure motorists and pedestrians alike will conduct themselves better in the absence of the so called traffic officials,” Ayinde said.
What we are doing to address traffic challenges – State Government
Meanwhile, the state government has said its efforts at eradicating traffic is beginning to yield fruits.
Just last week, the state embarked on the removal of some roundabouts identified as the major causes of traffic gridlock being experienced by motorists.
The government, through the Ministry of transportation said four roundabouts including Ikotun, 2nd roundabout on the Lekki-Epe Expressway, Allen Avenue roundabout and Maryland will be removed to pave way for road expansion and free flow of traffic.
The government noted that the removal of some roundabouts and street furniture such as giant billboards will give room for road expansion and strategically ease off traffic congestion in some parts of the metropolis.
Moreso, the Commissioner of Information and Stragegy, Mr. Gbenga Omotosho in an interview said the state from inception of the Sanwo-Olu administration had embarked on massive repairs of dilapidated roads which also contribute majorly to the traffic challenges.
“The issues of bad roads are being aggressively addressed to ease movement with eight multi-national construction firms mobilised and ordered to carry out massive repair works on critical highways across the state. Extensive palliative and maintenance works are also being carried out by Public Works Corporation in different parts of the state.”He cited the flag-off of the reconstruction and upgrading of strategic roads in Ikorodu such as the 6.05 kilometres’ phase one road from Itamaga to Ewu Elepe town, 7.8 kilometres’ Owutu-Agric-Ishawo Road phase one and Bola Tinubu-Igbogbo-Imota Road and others. He also said in a bid to strengthen the drive for a multimodal transport system, “the government launched UberBoat water transportation service. The business, a partnership between the global ride-hailing company and Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), has begun to explore the state’s abundant waterways and reduce the pressure on the roads. It also attests to the confidence global investors’ repose in Lagos as an investment destination of choice.”