Category: Transportation

Lagos State Government is determined to deliver on the blue and red light trains and begin the Fourth Mainland Bridge and coastal roads, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

The Blue and Red light rails expected to be delivered by fourth quarter this year would provide urban shuttle alternatives to about 1.4 million passengers at take-off, and over two million passengers per annum thereafter.

The Blue and the Red light train are two of the six train systems under the Lagos Train Mass Transit (LRMT) a major plank of the Strategic Transportation Masterplan (STMP) meant to redefine public sector transportation in Africa’s leading megacity and fourth biggest economy.

Under the Lagos Urban Rail Network (LURN), six such lines are mapped. While two, which have since become the flagship are nearing completion, the remaining four – the Green, Orange, Purple and Yellow lines, as well as a mono rail that would ply Obalende-Victoria Island-Ikoyi, are at various stages of bidding process.

The Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu who toured the ongoing railway projects on January 3, 2022 was happy that the projects are on course and would be delivered on target.

He said: “Our promise on the blue and the red line is still on course. We believe that, by coming on a quarterly basis to supervise them, we would ensure that before the end of this year, we will see the trains on top of the tracks.”

The governor said the two are “iconic and landmark projects”, for which the Lagosians would be proud.

He saluted the commitment of the contractors for their commitment.

He said he would intensify quarterly inspection to facilitate speedy completion, even as he praised the contractors for keeping to timelines. “We embarked on this similar tour about three or four months ago. I am happy to report that the construction is going on according to schedule,” the governor told journalists who w…………………………ere wit……h him during the tour to the four stations.

The governor said there were significant improvements in construction works at the sites of the Ikeja, Yaba, Ebute-Metta and Marina stations, compared to the last visit in September.

At the Ikeja Station, which will be the main iconic station for the red line project, the station was at foundation level in September but the project is now at the second floor level, remaining a floor before they will get to the third floor, which is the final floor.

The road works at Ikeja, as well as the overpass from Obafemi Awolowo to Agege Motor Road are also ongoing.

At the Yaba site, about three months ago, the contractors are now on the second floor in line with the matching order to the contractor to ensure that they keep to the timelines and the deadline.

The Ebute-Metta Station is far ahead of delivery because the contractor has finished the carcass of the station.

The red and blue line rail is part of the intermodal transportation system of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration in reducing gridlock and ensuring interconnectivity in different parts of the state. And when completed, the 37 kilometres red line rail project will link Agbado to Marina, while the 27.5 kilometres blue line rail project will run from Okokomaiko to Marina.

Lagos is the only state directly funding rail system construction not only in the country, but on the African continent, with the take-off of the blue light train 16 years ago.

Delivering the two projects simultaneously has gone a long way to demonstrate the Sanwo-Olu administration’s commitment to transportation, which is a major pillar of the government’s THEMES agenda.

Fourth Mainland Bridge

But the train is not the only sphere the Sanwo-Olu administration is leaving a major imprint. While major strides are recorded on the urban train transit project, the government is also working assiduously at the two level bridge that would change the transportation narratives of the state.

This ‘new bridge and new heart’ in the body of Lagos is not the typical infrastructure; they will connect people in large numbers and improve their natural flow through a re-organisation of vehicular, waterways, and pedestrian modes of transportation.

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The two level bridge will not only function as a means for vehicular traffic on its upper level, it will stimulate and accommodate pedestrian, social, commercial and cultural interactions on its lower level – ‘Lagos Life’ – with its tropical environment and intimate street level exchanges.

Addressing journalists on the Fourth Mainland Bridge recently, Engr Aramide Adeyoye, said when completed, the bridge, in conjunction with existing road networks, would establish a primary ring road around Lagos, providing alternative traffic routes from Lekki to Ikorodu and from Ikeja to Ajah, relieving the third Mainland Bridge of its overstretched capacity.

She said the government is shopping for contractors for the iconic bridge and once this is concluded this year, work may commence on the project which beyond providing transportation alternative, would secure the state’s primal place as a destination of choice for tourist as the bridge would undoubtedly attract a huge traffic of tourists on its first deck who might want to have a closer feel of the state’s aquatic splendor.

The Coastal Road

On the Eastern flank, the Sanwo-Olu administration also slated for this year the commencement of the Lekki-Epe coastal road, which when completed is expected to ease traffic along the Lekki-Ajah-Epe axis of the state which is usually on perennial nightmarish traffic lockdown.

Just last week, the government had to reassure residents, (who had raised the alarm that government is already parceling out portions of the right of way for the project to private developers), that it remained resolutely committed to delivering the coastal road and relieving residents along the Lekki corridor of the stress of the existing overburdened road.

Addressing the concerns, last week, the Commissioner of Information and Strategy Mr Gbenga Omotoso said government only allowed temporary structures on the land pending when construction will begin on the coastal road to prevent people from turning the land int shanties that could constitute menace and security threat to the people of the area.

Junction Improvements

The government would undoubtedly continue to take on more junction improvement works this year to improve travel experience of urban dwellers in the state.

In the past year, the government embarked upon and delivered on four junction improvement works that saw the expansion and improvement of traffic patterns on Allen Avenue, Lekki roundabout, and Maryland. Works are also aggressively ongoing at Awolowo Way/Kodesho/Oba Akran road underpass (by Computer Village) in Ikeja, awarded September last year and is expected to be completed in April. The Commissioner for Transportation Dr Frederic Oladeinde said the JWIs are part of the transportation reforms aimed at expanding the carriage capacity of many of the urban road networks, most of which are currently overstretched as a result of the volume of vehicles within the state. He said no fewer than 60 such junctions scattered round the urban areas of the state have been identified while work is ongoing to bring more junctions into the basket, for which he said the administration is determined to rework in its determination to improve travel experience in the state.

For an administration that has just one full budgetary year to wind down, the Sanwo-Olu administration is undoubtedly determined to sustain the tempo of turning the five divisions of the state into a huge construction site. There is no doubt that these projects, once delivered, will change transportation narrative in the state and pave the way for an inter-modal transportation system where all modes of transportation would be made available for the pleasurable movement of the people of the state.

The Federal and Lagos State governments hope to continue on the trajectory of delivering legacy projects that would deepen inter-modal systems in the transportation sub-sector, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

Year 2021 ended on a high note for the transportation sector at the national level with the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, assuring Nigerians that the projections for the sector in 2022 were not mere promises, aimed at cornering cheap votes ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Speaking in Abuja on the eve of the New Year, Amaechi said more projects, especially the controversial Kano-Maradi standard gauge, with a spur to Kaduna State, would be delivered by December.

Last week, Amaechi met with the project’s contractor – Mota Engil, a Portuguese concern, and its financial advisors in Germany, where the finer details of the project aimed at making Nigeria’s ports attractive and a destination of choice for landlocked nations in North and Central Africa were discussed.

He told Nigerians that more ambitious and legacy infrastructure were being embarked upon not to curry political favours from Nigerians but to ensure that the nation continued to move in the right direction in terms of capital projects.

But the success of the Kano-Maradi line itself is contingent on the successful completion of another, for which funds are being sought by the government. This is the Ibadan-Kano standard gauge, which is the third and final; LOT III, in what is the modernisation agenda of the Western Line, a major plank of the 25 years Strategic Masterplan of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, which runs its full term in 2027.

Amaechi’s optimism is against the threats which the 2022 budget, signed by President Muhammadu Buhari last Friday, constituted to the transportation subsector.

The National Assembly in the budget slashed the allocation to the Ministry of Transportation by N12.6 billion. This flies against the logic of providing more for the ministry to enable it to deliver on all ongoing rail modernisation projects.

Amaechi who had appeared before the joint committee of Senate and House of Representatives on Land and Marine Transport had said the N147.9 billion allocated to the Ministry this year is not enough to address the challenge before it.

Defending the allocation, Amaechi had told the joint committee that the objectives of the proposal is to consolidate on the government’s achievements on land transport, where the delivery of modern standard gauge rail lines, have continued to elicit positive reactions from Nigerians. He said the budget would help the Ministry consolidate on all ongoing projects, complete and deliver modern railway services that will become an effective alternative transport system for economic growth for the citizenry.

It is not the first time Amaechi would be faced with the grim reality of paucity of funds. Even despite appropriating N156.6 billion to the Ministry in 2021, the Minister said only N138, 967,747,631 representing (88.73 per cent) was released out of which N113,324,587,384 has been utilised as of October 25, 2021.

“In addition, the sum of N358,799.999 was appropriated for Overhead expenditure out of which N269, 099,999 26 was released.

“The sum of N185, 690,572.33 of the released amount was expended as of October 25, 2021,” he stated.

Amaechi said: “The Ministry is proposing a total capital budget of N147,931,691,294. And the overhead of 5358, 799,998 in the 2022 budget.

It is however cheery that while expressing reservation on the unilateral cuts and additions to the executive projections, by the National Assembly, to the assented bill, President Buhari, had clearly stated that he would soon send an amendment to the lawmakers indicating that he needs more money especially to deliver on railways which he described as critical to the success of his administration.

Besides the Kano-Maradi line, prioritized by the administration, the Amaechi led Ministry also hoped to deliver on the rehabilitation of the rotted Port-Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge (Eastern Line), funded directly from the Ministry’s budget.

Other projects on which work is expected to commence based on the availability of funds are the Ibadan-Kano standard gauge, from which the Kano-Maradi line would be oxygenated, and the Lagos-Calabar Coastal line, for which funds are being sought. Also included on the list are the modernisation of the Eastern line, as the government is seeking funds for the standard gauge for the Eastern line, while various spur lines, aimed at achieving the administration’s dream of linking all state capitals by rail, are being aggressively pursued.

While the government continues to concentrate on the railway element of the land transport this year, the government had said it would continue to push all agencies and departments under it, both in the land and maritime sub-sector to achieve the aim of refocusing the transportation sector to take its pride of place as the (critical) nerve centre of the nation’s economy.

At the last Chartered Institute of Transportation of Nigeria CIoTA conference held in Abuja in November, conferees said the transportation sector, if adequately exploited, could contribute a whopping N7.5 trillion yearly to the economy.

They had argued that despite its huge population put at about 220 million, Nigeria is almost completely dependent on land mode of transportation that is in itself not properly administered and, or, maximally managed or exploited.

Stakeholders at the summit with the theme, “Regulating the Transport Sector in Nigeria: The State of the Art and the Years Ahead”, charged relevant authorities to take the enforcement of transport sector regulations seriously.

They argued that critical regulatory obligations such as transportation safety, quality control, documentation and licensing, information sharing and data mining, professional education and public enlightenment; enforcement of the rules and standardisation of procedures for collaboration among statutory agencies with complimentary mandates were imperatives for the making of a sustainable and economically viable transport sector.

The Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, represented by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, had explained that the administration’s commitment to the sector is an admittance of its critical role to the economy, even as he charged CIoTA to continue to generate ideas aimed at strengthening the sector.

He said: “As the Institute carries out its statutory mandate of training and certifying transport professionals, as you exercise your statutory powers to regulate and control the practice of professional transport management and administration, your training curriculum and the quality of your graduates are very significant, as the global supply chain goes digital and the world of transport and transportation management thrives on ever-evolving technology and innovations.”

He said that the investment the Federal Government is making in the transportation system especially in the areas of rail, road, air and maritime is aimed at achieving the potential of transforming Nigeria as a major transport hub within the African continent.

CIoTA President, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, said transportation is the livewire of any economy, adding that the nation’s economic and social wellbeing depended on transportation.

But beside the Federal Government, many of the state governments also have introduced initiatives aimed at boosting the sector.

Lagos State Government for instance, would be taking delivery of the Blue and Red Light Rail, two legacy projects that would redefine transportation narratives in Africa’s megacity. The two flagship projects would be completed with 10 train stations apiece, with the Blue Line having two interchanges at Mile 2 and Marina.

The two light rails are part of the six into which the entire Lagos metropolis had been calibrated. The other lines for which the government would soon open bids for are the Yellow, Green, Orange and Purple Lines.

The rail projects would complement other land elements such as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Under the scheme, coordinated by LAMATA, a total of 14 BRT routes besides 485 individual bus routes have been established.

There is also the new bus reform, under which LAMATA has injected medium and small buses known as the First and Last Mile (FLM) buses to commuters’ movements and reduce the risk of commuting via rickety buses or unsafe commercial motorcycles which remained banned as a means of transportation in the state.

This is besides the administration’s massive investments in road rehabilitation and, or reconstruction, which continues to see the delivery of new road infrastructure expanded to accommodate Non-Motorised Transportation NMT, the new initiative being promoted under the FLM transportation initiative.

LAMATA also established 20 new water routes which are being developed by the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), all in the bod to open the state’s inter-modal transportation capacity and maximize the state’s over 22 million population who daily needs these elements to move from place to place daily.

Addressing these initiatives recently LAMATA’s Managing Director Engr  Mrs Abimbola Akinajo likened Lagos State to an expectant mother. “Lagos,” she says, “is heavily pregnant with several projects aimed at relieving the people of their transportation and traffic nightmare. When these projects are eventually delivered it would bring much relief to the people and change the transportation ecosystem in the state forever. Our desire is to bring relief to Lagosians and we would deliver many of these projects that would promote intermodal transport in 2022.”

The outgoing year is one that changed the nation’s transportation narrative, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

Despite the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, major milestones were recorded in the nation’s transportation sector in the outgoing year.

The Muhammadu Buhari administration delivered within the first quarter of the year, two legacy projects; the first, was the $1.7 billion Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge, while the second was the multi-million dollar Deep Blue project, that has redefined security of the nation’s international waterways, checkmating activities of pirates in the gulf of Guinea.

Both projects, inaugurated on June 10, 2021, have continued to change the perception of Nigerians regarding the administration’s commitment to the deepening of infrastructure in the country.

Daily more and more Nigerians  thronged the iconic train stations to have a taste of the new Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge train system with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) at the nick of time rolling out more lines to satisfy the growing demand.

The outgoing year saw the Federal Government tinker with unbundling the NRC. By the second quarter next year, the NRC would have been unbundled for efficiency and effectiveness of railway operations in the country.

The foundation of the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge was laid by the Acting President Prof Yemi Osinbajo (as he then was), on March 7, 2017. It became the first of such huge project that would be delivered in Nigeria within the first construction cycle.

The delivery of the new rail project, which made the third standard rail system in the country  after Abuja-Kaduna and Itakpe-Warri standard gauges, has given a filip to government’s projection to connect all state capitals by rail before 2023.

Among the rail system the Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi hopes to deliver are the Kano-Maradi rail line, for which the Federal Government last week met with the Portuguese contractor Mota Engil, to ensure the project is delivered in 15 months.

Other networks for which the administration are still shopping for fresh funds are the Ibadan-Kano standard gauge, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal rail line, and the Kaduna-Katsina line.            Others are the Itakpe-Abuja and the 1,657km PortHarcourt-Maiduguri Eastern rail line. If all are done, the administration would have almost wrapped up the Federal Government’s 25-year Strategic Masterplan on rail transportation, which began in 2002 with the repair and rehabilitation of the narrow gauge rail lines among others.

Nigeria also recorded some speed on the Kajola Railway Assembly Plant, in Ogun State, kicked off by  Osinbajo in November 2019, and the University of Transportation, Daura donated by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), and inaugurated by Buhari in December of the same year, which is scheduled to begin academic activities next year. The sod was also turned on the multi-disciplinary university donated by Mota-Engil to the Nigeria Government n Port Harcourt.

No fewer than 150 Nigerians, in various universities in China, on scholarship, in various aspects of railway engineering, would be joining the foundation staff to teach railway engineering at the new university.

Though experts said Nigeria may need between N2 and N3 trillion to bridge the railway infrastructure gaps in the country, the Federal Ministry of Transportation worked with N205 billion budget in 2021.

Amaechi said the devastating effects of COVID-19 on all economies around the world, had hampered the government’s projections to take trains around the state capitals.

But it is not all gloom. The minister had said the Lagos-Ibadan speed train would create no fewer than 10,000 direct jobs and hundreds of auxiliary jobs, while the Kajola Assembly Plant and the tertiary institution would have multiplier effect on the economy.

Amaechi said the greater impact of the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge would be felt in cargo movement. He explained that the 30 million metric tons of freight yearly from the Apapa and Tincan Ports would be doubled, taking the traffic away from Lagos and the Ports access roads. When fully on stream, both the narrow and standard gauge rail lines are meant to freight containers from the Apapa Ports to the Ibadan Dry Port.

In the outgoing year, Nigeria also began to take more than a passing interest in continental maritime jurisdiction, with Dr Paul Adalikwu emerging as the Secretary General of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa MOWCA, a major partner at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

Just as transportation had a bullish ride, with the rail system emerging as a major artery of the nation’s transportation architecture, some states also took the gauntlet to embark on legacy projects in the sector in the outgoing year.

One such state from which much is expected in the transportation sector, is Lagos, which began work simultaneously on the Blue and Red Light Rail systems. Both are expected to be delivered by the fourth quarter of 2022.

The Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, said the rail system is part of efforts aimed at developing alternative modes of transportation that would de-emphasise on the road as the major element accounting for the movement of commuters.

Similar aggressive investment is being expected on the waterways with the government investing in acquisition of modern ferries and the cleaning and channelisation of the waterways, with which the state is abundantly blessed. No less than 20 inland waterways routes are being worked upon by the Lagos Waterways Authority (LASWA), which last week held a world investment summit on opportunities in the state’s waterways.

At the Waterways investment summit which held last week, Lagos State Government showcased opportunities in water transportation in its drive for Direct Foreign Investment (DFI), to bring some relief to her traffic-wearied people. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE reports.

The Lagos State Government never stops exciting investors – at least, the adventurous types.

Whichever way you turn, the state offers a bouquet of opportunities for sharp, witty but nimble investors to cash in some fortunes. Not that it comes easy –  at least not totally – but the returns on investment are always worth it.

One such avenue presented last Wednesday by Future Cities Nigeria (FCN) and the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) was on the waterways, a treasure trove, they said, with huge returns. According to them, it can boost the state government’s transformation strides on transportation, in line with its THEMES agenda of traffic control and transportation alternatives that befit Africa’s mega smart city.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s assurances were warm and infectious; they ignited an excitement that gave rays of hope that the event, which was held at Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, was not misplaced, but had hit the right cord.

The summit was the maiden edition by Future Cities Nigeria (FCN) and LASWA, the state’s regulator of inland waterways.

Speaking on the theme of the event, Lagos State Transportation: Transformation and Investment Opportunities, Sanwo-Olu listed the areas he was expecting investors’ fresh funds to include the provision of modern water buses, in large, medium and mini variants for passengers and cargoes, construction of infrastructure such as jetties, boat production and management, or technical partnership and consultancy, financing and provision of logistics all aimed at boosting local content and generating employments for her vibrant youth and population.

Sanwo-Olu explained that not only was the state blessed with vast waterways which occupy 40 per cent of its 1,171 square kilometres landmass, it also had a population of about 22 million people majority of whom are waiting to switch to the waterways once they could be assured of safe watercraft, and supporting infrastructure that compare with global best.

The governor, represented by the Special Adviser, Office of Public-Private Partnership (OPPP), Mr. Ope George, canvassed local and foreign investors to take a look at Lagos waterways for exciting returns on investment (ROI).

Though the government had made some interventions in the past, greater collaboration, he said, is needed to maximise the full potential of the state’s waterways.

He said: “That the Lagos State Ferry Service (LAGFERRY) ferried members of our national soccer team, the Super Eagles, to Porto Novo on March 26, 2021 bears a bold testimony to this vast potential.

“It was an opportunity for our compatriots and those interested in investing in our waterways to see the huge opportunities of the sector.

“The players saw the alluring beauty of our countryside as well as the majesty of nature – such a bewitching spectacle that only the waterways could have showcased,” he said.

For him, viability of the waterways is a non-issue, the state being the nation’s engine room, business hub that is itself the fourth biggest market on the African continent and home to headquarters of many giant players in the financial and industrial sectors.

Special Adviser on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Investments to Sanwo-Olu, Mrs Solape Hammond, said the state aims at attracting Foreign Direct Investment.

For her, the state would always serve as a ‘business ombudsman’ that helped investors and the local business community to navigate government bureaucracy through the Office of the Public Private Partnership.

Hammond said it was an incontrovertible fact that Lagos derived its age-long excellence in significant measure from the worthy contribution of the private investments.

“Lagos is a prized jewel that is a hotbed not only of commercial activity, but of talent.

“We assure our potential investors that your investments are safe – Fitch international just improved our rating from AA+ to AAA long term for fiscal redpins,” she said.

The governor’s aide said the rating has positioned Lagos as one of the most preferred investment destinations in the world.

LASWA’s General Manager, Mr Damilola Emmanuel, said it is cheaper, faster and more convenient to hike a ride on Lagos waterways with the modern ferries the state has deployed through the LAGFERRY.

He highlighted the opportunities in the sector to include full channelisation of 15 out of the 20 water routes and regular cleaning and clearing the water channels of impediments.

Emmanuel noted that with regular training of operators, the waterways are now a safer, faster and cheaper alternative to the traffic-clogged road mode.

The LASWA chief said the summit is to help stimulate investors’ awareness and interest in the waterways especially as a viable alternative to road mode of transportation.

He said: “The investment opportunities will therefore complement the efforts of the government to combat traffic congestion on the Lagos road.

“It will also reduce the amount of time it takes for citizens to commute, especially during the peak period.

“In addition, this will also assist in poverty alleviation through increased economic activities from the provision of safe, cheap and reliable transportation.”

Emmanuel said LASWA had adopted a ferry operators licensing framework, prioritized routes had been approved and it also had a route licensing template for private investors to thrive in the waterways transport sector.

The Managing Director, National Inland Waterways Authority, Mr Goerge Moghalu, urged the state government to collaborate with the federal government in the development of its inland waterways.

Moghalu said he would be looking for greater partnerships in the areas of safety, sensitisation campaigns for boat operators and security of waterways users.

He said the state government should also partner NIWA to erase multiple- taxation for boat operators.

The managing director said the NIWA door was opened to collaborate and partner with any key stakeholders to ensure that the waterways were attractive to investors and users.

The Managing Director, Sierra Craft, Prof. Adebayo Otitoloju, said production of locally made boats was a way to ensure development of local content in the sector, which he cautioned is capital intensive.

Otitoloju noted that there were huge opportunities in the area of boat production.

He noted that the opportunities are beyond Lagos because some states such as Akwa Ibom, Port Harcourt were also surrounded by water.

The managing director identified training as a serious challenge to the production of locally made boats for boat builders in the country.

He added that finance was another major challenge for boat builders adding that they don’t need loans but partnership, equity contributions, grants and capital options.

Contributing, the President, United Waterways Passengers Association, Mr Pius Agbude said the use of waterways saves passengers time and contributes to productivity at the workplace.

Agbude, however, noted that once there was fear by passengers that waterways transportation was not safe then they would be scared to make use of it.

He said investors should not make profits in the short run at the detriment of the safety of passengers, urging them to consider profits in the long run.

Other speakers at the event are; Chairman House Committee on Transportation, Hon. Temitope Adewale, British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos Ben Llewellyn-Jones, Future Cities Nigeria (FCN) Team Lead Mr. Kayode Khalidson.

Others are the representatives from the Netherlands embassy and French embassy among other notable speakers, who pledged to facilitate business exchanges with the state on water transportation.

Its no longer business as usual for rickety vehicles as Lagos State Government is poised to roll out ‘operation no vehicle inspection, no road worthiness certificate’ by January next year. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes.

Joshua Ushuie lives in Ojodu Local Council Development Area, in the sub-urban heart of Lagos. With a dimming future after losing his job in an engineering firm three years ago, he has been supporting his young family with the proceeds of his commercial transportation business. He simply used his saloon car for the new business. To avoid the Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) men, he worked only in the morning and at night. He told this correspondent, he needed to do that to avoid being booked for sundry infractions. His car was, of a truth, an eyesore, with a number of defects begging for attention.

Ushuie said he hardly made enough to feed his family. As a widower, he has been the only one shouldering the responsibility of raising three kids, left behind by his late wife.

Flip the coin to the commercial segment of the sub-sector and you see, at each turn, hundreds of thousands of drivers/operators like Ushuie carrying passengers in rickety vehicles.

With an estimated population of 21 million as of 2016, autocheck.africa, a blogger, says the roads host over five million cars and 200,000 commercial vehicles (when the national average stands at 11 vehicles per kilometre, with government sources claiming half the number of such vehicles were rickety and unfit for the roads.

Despite the derelict state of their vehicles, such operators, the source added, had continued to ply the roads, because they keep getting the state’s road worthiness certificates, which certifies their rickety vehicles fit.

Such, Lagos State Government says, must stop and beginning from January 1, 2022, it would begin operation no inspection, no road worthiness certificate.

No to rickety vehicles

From January 1, it is no to rickety vehicles in Lagos State. Addressing transport union leaders at the VIS Safety Campaign Week 2021/2022, at the Vehicle Inspection Service headquarters last Friday, the Commissioner for Transportation Dr. Frederic Oladeinde, said no vehicle would be issued road worthiness certificate without physical checks at any of the computerised vehicle inspection centres (LACVIS centres) across the state.

Oladeinde, who described this as part of  unfolding reforms being introduced in the transport sector, explained that, henceforth, vehicles would be checked for basic minimum safety standards. Vehicles which passed would be given the certificate, anyone that failed would be given the grace of one month to fix the problems on their vehicles and return for certification at no cost.

He said this would ensure that vehicles plying the roads are in good shape.

The commissioner said the policy was in accordance with the administration’s THEMES agenda.

He said: “No one would be able to obtain road worthiness certificate anywhere in the state without the Vehicle Inspection Service (LACVIS) certifying such vehicles road worthy,” Simply put, any vehicle without it must stay off the roads.

He explained that there is no longer hiding place for people like Ushuie. “We would be patiently waiting for such people who would feel they can circumvent the rule. Once caught, they would pay for their infraction”, he declared.

Oladeinde said the forum was to collate stakeholders’ views that might impede the policy, assuring that their views would be presented to the governor for appropriate actions.

“I have taken down all your questions and observations and I want to assure you that I would present them to Mr Governor for appropriate action,” the Commissioner said.

Further expatiating on the new policy, the Director of Lagos State Vehicle Inspection Service, Engr Akin-George Fashola, said the new policy would reduce physical presence of VIS officers on the roads.

Urging transport unions leaders to help disseminate the new policy direction of the government, Fashola said the test would be rolled out in all the 26 LACVIS centres already established, and motorists could book online for tests or mobile vehicle inspection at www.dvis.lg.gov.ng or www.lacvis.com.ng

Safety Checks

Fashola said the inspection is for all categories of vehicles; private, commercial, and or articulated. To be road worthy, tests would be conducted on vehicle’s brakes, light system, (the headlamps, brake lights, turn signals, reflectors and parking lights), and horn, which must be heard at a distance of 60 metres.

Other elements to check for are; mufflers in the exhaust emission system, number plates, windshield wiper, rear view mirror, vehicle’s body, tyres and engine.

Fashola described these as very basic safety precautions that VIS would never overlook in any vehicle.

had presented his vehicle for such checks within the period.

All classes of vehicles, including trucks, articulated vehicles, commercial buses, corporate fleet operators and private cars, he said, would be covered once this policy rolls off.

Explaining that the governor has approved the take-off of the policy since June this year, Fashola said the VIS would not go after anyone but patiently wait for violators of the law to be apprehended and would be prosecuted.

He said the state is out to hold anyone with a car accountable to make their vehicles road worthy, adding that on several occasions the state had been held vicariously liable in cases of litigation anytime vehicles that are not road worthy caused collateral damage and litigants are prosecuting on the strength that such vehicles obtained appropriate certificates to operate on the road.

All hands on deck

The Lagos Sector Commander Federal Road Safety Corps, Olusegun Ogungbemide is prepared to partner in ensuring the policy is successful. He urged transport unions and other stakeholders to voluntarily comply in order to ensure that the roads are made safe for all users.

A former transport leader Chief Remi Ogungbemi, urged the government to come up with policies that are corrective and not punitive and to treat transport operators as equal stakeholder as movers of the wheel of the nation’s economy.

LACVIS MD Prince Olusegun Obayendo said computerized vehicle testing would ensure that vehicles on the road are safe as any mechanical or electrical faults would be detected early before they are aggravated. He said LACVIS is not a revenue making centre, but one out to ensure that all vehicles are safe for users.

He urged motorists to voluntarily comply as part of their responsibility to make the roads safe for all users.

Speaking on behalf of other union members Secretary General of NURTW Ojodu Berger Branch B, Comrade Taiwo Abiodun assured the government that the union would continue to partner to make the roads safe.

Adiatu Babatunde Bello, who represented Corporate Representatives, i.e the fleet operators, urged the government to complement these centres with mobile service centres, to accommodate fleet operators whose vehicles are usually out on operations.

The Federal Government, through the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), has graduated over 400 in freight forwarding and supply chain management courses across 16 accredited tertiary institutions in the country.

The maiden graduation ceremony took place at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) at the weekend.

They were inducted into the business of freight forwarding and supply chain management.

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi was the Special Guest of honour at the graduation ceremony.

He was represented by the Permanent Secretary Ministry for Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani.

READ ALSO: Global freight forwarding market set to rebound

He urged the National Assembly to come up with a bill to correct some errors in the industry.

He also urged the graduating students to embrace technological advancement in tackling port issues.

The Registrar, CRFFN, Samuel Nwakohu, said the course was initiated by the Federal Government to ensure the council weeds out nonprofessionals and miscreants within the ports.

Nwakohu said the Federal Government had mandated that the council, owing to its importance to the nation’s and global economy, should regulate the business.

The Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) has taken swimming to public schools in riverine communities, and taught no fewer than 100 pupils the art and other water confidence skills. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE and HALIMA BALOGUN, who attended the event, report.

For pupils of the four public schools in the riverine communities in Ojo Local Government, Lagos State penultimate week was one that would impact their lives forever.

About 100 pupils drawn from the schools were selected and for one week, taught how to swim and stay afloat and away from danger in the eventuality of a boat mishap.

The trainer, Mrs Aderoju Ope-Ajayi of Dolphin Aquatic Centre Limited, in collaboration with the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), had aimed at taking this new approach to public schools in riverine communities as a means of reinforcing the government’s commitment to the safety of all waterways users, especially the school children who are vulnerable and most often are fatal casualties in the eventuality of incidents on the waterways.

LASWA Managing Director Mr Damilola Emmamuel said the initiative is to help cure the pupils of their morbid fear of the waters.

He insisted that no state government had contributed more to the safety of lives of waterways users than the Lagos State government.

LASWA, collaborating with the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), has been championing reduction in fatalities through the licensing and regulating of operators in the water and enforcement of compliance to safety standards by all water crafts plying the Lagos inland waters.

A littoral state, Lagos, with a fourth of its land space covered by water has been battling with maximising its water potential, but this has been hampered by incessant accidents which has, like its land component, made Lagos’ waterways one of the most unsafe in the world. This has grossly affected the potential of the state’s waterways which has remained stunted as many who would otherwise have patronised the ferries had opted to sweat it out on the roads, despite the huge man-hour loss to traffic gridlock.

The development has consigned the waterways to be patronised largely  by those who live in riverine communities, with the majority of the users who fall in this category being market women and children, most of who shuttles from their various homes to school and back using any of the craft provided by the operators.

This new initiative is another in the list of steps taken by LASWA in the last decade to make the waterways safe for  users.

The schools are Salvation Army Primary School, Ikare; Unity Grammar School, Ikare; Local Authority Primary School, Ibasa and Local Authority and Salvation Army Primary School, Ibeshe.

Emmanuel explained that by teaching them theory and practical knowledge on waterways safety, the pupils would develop water confidence, and be armed with swimming skills and basic survival techniques in an emergency.

“As you know, there is water phobia even though we are surrounded by water among the people of Lagos and Nigerians as a whole and, of course, this government is proactive and as a government we want to ensure that we are utilising our resources which one of them is the waterways and to adequately utilise the waterway, we have to ensure that people are confident on the waterways.

“One of the ways we can be confident is by learning to swim and no other way to start than with the pupils,” he said.

A board member, Lagos State Universal Basic Educational Board (LASUBEB) Mr Dayo Isreal, described the training as phenomenal, adding that he is happy the young ones were being trained and their capacity are being built not only to swim, but to develop water safety skills.

He said: “We are changing the content of schools with digitalising our classrooms but that will not be enough to improve the cognitive without also working on their affective and their psychomotor.

“This is what we are doing in Ibeshe, to empower the children and give them capacity. Any of them who so wish can take swimming as a sport and become Olympic gold medalists someday, but at least we have armed them with what they need to stay alive in case they are involved in any accident on the water.

The founder and Lead Instructor, Dolphin Swim School and Dolphin Aquatic Center Limited, Mrs Aderoju Ope-Ajayi lauded Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and LASWA for putting in place such an initiative, adding that the pupils were able to grasp the concept, understand the knowledge and are now water safer.

“What I found is that they were very eager and very excited and it’s just typical child behavior, they were quick to learn and they were able to grasp the concept very quickly and it was just an exciting time for both of us and the facilitators.

“This is something we have always been passionate about because a child learning how to be water safe means he has been told how to prevent drowning, so that means the rate of death by drowning will significantly reduce,”she said.

One of the beneficiaries, a pupil from Local Authority School, Ibeshe, Ms Dorothy Davo, said she knows how to dive, swim and rescue herself during floods or when their boat capsizes while going to or returning from school.

Davo thanked the government for coming with such a programme which had helped to improve their confidence in water transportation.

LASWA later presented all graduands of the programme life jackets to further boost their morale and be more assured of their safety while on the water, with the agency charging them never to board any water craft without having the lifejackets on.

“This life jacket we are giving you is not for decoration. You must ensure you use it anytime you have any cause to use the boat either to school or anywhere else. Do not board any boat if you do not have your life jacket on. It is for your safety and you must contribute your quota to make Lagos State waterways safe,” Emmanuel said.

CAPTION

Nigeria’s leading technology-enabled logistics company, GIGL, has launched a new delivery product ‘Go-Faster’.

The development comes months after the company’s launch of electric delivery vans to compliment its zero carbon initiative.

According to the company, the new offering is aimed at providing next day deliveries to and from selected cities including Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt.

Incorporated in 2012, the Lagos-headquartered company offers logistics services to private end users and merchants seeking a reliable channel to deliver goods and parcels to places around Nigeria, Ghana and the U.S.

Nearly 10 years in service, the GIGL company has become a logistics giant in Nigeria reputed for its speedy, secured and affordable service.

Instrumental to leading innovations within the industry, the company leverages technology to deliver on its core values.

At the centre of the company’s operations is its mobile app, GIGGO, launched in 2019, facilitating cross-border logistics services from the remotest locations.

In 2020, GIGL partnered Jet Motor Company, an African automobile manufacturer, in a corporate deal to adopt GIGL’s service centres in Nigeria as charging stations for electric vehicles.

The new ‘Go Faster’ product complements the existing ‘Go Standard’ designed to deliver shipments within Nigeria in 24hrs, down from 72hrs.

Tunde Arogundade, Product Lead at GIGL, explained that the company is introducing the product in response to the yearning of customers, especially ecommerce merchants, for faster delivery modules.

He said: “The choice of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt to launch was based on data of volume traffic and customer’s demand. However, the product extended to other cities within Nigeria and Accra in Ghana where customers are demanding for it.”

With ‘Go Faster,’ Arogundade noted that GIGL will “enable small and medium businesses grow faster” as they rely on the ever expanding GIGL network to reach their customers within and outside Nigeria.