The Nation Newspaper

Category: Transportation

  • Fed Govt seeks more standard gauge rail lines

    Transport Correspondents Association of Nigeria (TCAN) has urged the Federal Government to construct more standard gauge railway lines across the country.

    Its chairperson, Augusta Uchediunor, said completion of the Lagos-Ibadan project would boost growth and reduce traffic congestion.

    The TCAN chief expressed the hope that the minister would accomplish the plan to extend the Warri to Itakpe standard gauge line to Abuja and Warri Port.

    The association commended the decision to establish a manufacturing factory for coaches at Kajola, Ifo area of Ogun State, and the establishment of  a University ofTransportation in Daura, Katsina State.

    The association lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for returning Rotimi Amaechi and appointing Ms Gbemisola Saraki as ministers of Transport.

    Read Also: LASG to clampdown on traders on rail lines

    The association, in a statement in Lagos, expressed confidence in Amaechi’s capacity to drive the reform initiatives of the government in the transportation sector.

    It said the return of Amaechi and the appointment of Ms Saraki reflected the unflinching commitment of the administration to taking the transportation sector to the next level.

    Its chairperson added: “We believe Saraki will bring her experiences and competence to bear in supporting Amaechi, who has, from the outset when he joined the Buhari government in 2015, showed a great zeal and passion for the transportation sector.”

  • Apapa gridlock: End of nightmare in sight

    Four months after the Presidential Task Team on Apapa gridlock started work, residents and others have started heaving a sigh of relief, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    The song on the lips of private and corporate residents of Apapa these days is sustainability: that is, how to ensure that the ‘miracle’ that unlocked the gridlock that had seized the nation’s economic honey pot by the throat is sustained.

    For about a decade, many residents thought that Apapa has been sentenced to perennial gridlock. Such assumptions were reinforced by the failure of successive special Task Forces to tackle the traffic.

    One such resident, who never believed the government could tackle the Apapa gridlock, was Alhaji Umar Danlami, a Potiskum, Yobe State-born supplier and transporter. “I never believed the task team could make a difference when they started in May 2019. But four months after, the task team has not only solved the Apapa gridlock, but have proved that with effective traffic control system, Apapa would never slip into the ugly era again,” the Apapa-based businessman said.

    Danlami, a Nigeria Flour Mills (NFM) major transporter and supplier, and owner of Danlami Truck Park, praised the Presidential Task Team (PTT), headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and its Vice Chairman, Kayode Opeifa, “whose commitment to decongesting Apapa of trucks have been total”.

    He said: “I did not expect that this gridlock would ever go away from Apapa. If you know this Apapa before, there is no way, you’ll not be praying for this team for bringing sanity into Apapa. Everyone thought the gridlock was real, but when this committee came we discovered that it was artificial; that, it was man-made, created by those benefiting from it.”

    Specifically, he praised the team’s Head of Enforcement, Hakeem Odumosu, a Commissioner of Police, and an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Bayonle Sulaimon, for their commitment to riding Apapa of the nightmare.

    A logistics and haulage expert, Mr Tunji Olaosun, agreed that the gridlock was man-made. He urged the government to sustain the initiatives aimed at de-flooding the port area of trucks.

    An Apapa resident, Mr Paul Eloka, lamented that many residents, who had fled Apapa,  were returning as the traffic situation had been brought under control since the task team started work. He added that residents were praying that the team, which would be marking its fourth month in Apapa on September 22, be retained.

    “We would want Mr President to please retain these people at Apapa, because they have shown uncommon commitment to the cause of people.”

    The Councillor representing Apapa Ward B, Hon. Ishaq Ali Danbaba, said the team has brought a new meaning to governance, as the traffic has been managed and critical roads connecting the ports are being rehabilitated.

    “When there is a serious government, nothing is impossible. Today, Apapa gridlock, which many feared may never be resolved, is now history.”

    Danbaba said by managing the various traffic flows into Apapa, the PTT has been able to solve the traffic gridlock without hitches. “Every night, the team allows companies producing around Apapa, like Dangote, BUA,  NFM, Standard, Crown, Flour Mills, to go to Apapa and load and, even at that, the trucks are directed to keep to just one lane, while one lane is left for residents to have access to their homes. The area with challenges is the Tin Can axis, which still remains clogged as a result of the ongoing construction,” Danbaba said.

    The National Coordinator of the Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA), Comrade Stephen Okafor, said by decongesting Apapa, the PTT has achieved in full the Executive Order Six of Mr President on the ease of doing business, especially in Apapa.

    COMTUA – an amalgam of transport unions – had decried the extortionist tendencies of previous task forces, and their protests had resulted in the composition of the task team.

    “We agreed to move these trucks to private parks, to reduce the number of trucks parking on the road. Of the 64 private parks that COMTUA recommended, 33 parks were approved for use and, as we speak, the NPA management is calling trucks from these parks. The NPA opened the Lilypond Terminal and the Tin Can Truck Park at the Tin Can Second Gate, where trucks on that axis are parking, from where they are called in to the Tin Can ports. These have gone a long way to reduce congestion,” Okafor said.

    COMTUA’s Head of Operations Malam Inua Abdullahi, however, accused shipping firms of sabotaging PTT’s efforts, adding that they have continued to show little or no improvement in their capacity to accommodate the container returns.

    Victor Nnatum, a trucker, urged the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC) to enforce the laws and ensure that terminal operators comply.

    He urged the government and the shipping lines to review the demurrage regime which  compounded the traffic situation in Apapa traffic.

    Gbade Amodu, a truck fleet operator and transporter, said the Team succeeded because they balanced the road among users. “They put up a system, stating that at any particular time of the day, you can identify the traffic that is on the road. They put such a system in the morning for residents to move about freely, or go to work and their businesses. There is time for the regular truck traffic. Truck traffic has many categories. You have  manufacturers, such as the Flour Mills BUA, Crown Flour, Dangote, and Honeywell. These ones move in at all times. They have been able to segment the traffic flows given the peculiarity of their businesses and needs.”

    Amodu, who noted that the system, has boosted business for truckers, said “before, you’d be lucky to run one trip per week,  some make two”.

    According to him, before, empty containers take more than two weeks to get to Apapa from Ijora Olopa because of the obstacles. “We have the human factor and the Nigerian factor. But now, an average truck can do at least two local trips a week. That is even with the challenges of returning empty containers.”

    Danlami said the system has brought its challenges. According to him, many, like him, who wants to obey the PTT’s directive by moving from Lilypond, are discovering that many trucks still shunt.

    Danlami said: “I profitted more with the old order as I readily paid to get my trucks into the ports and my trucks could make three or four trips per week. Now because I wanted to be law-abiding, I could hardly make one trip per week, while I see some truckers shunt having paid some unscrupulous elements in the police to get ahead of others.”

    Nelson Ekujumi, a human rights activist,  said before the Team would leave, they must set up a sustainable system and engage the terminal operators to review the regime of container deposits, container returns and ensure that the holding bays owned by shipping lines work.

    Ekujumi, who said the Team has achieved so much within a very short time, added that much more could be done when the roads are completed and the electronic call up system being proposed by the NPA comes on stream.

    Secretary, Apapa GRA Residents Association, Bosun Talabi, wondered why the Federal Government could not have another Truck Terminal on the expressway to further ease the traffic along the Tin Can-Coconut axis.

    He urged the government to complement the deployment of the railway with the waterways, adding that containers could be taken by barges from the ports to any of the contiguous locations bordering Apapa, from where the trucks could pick them up for the last mile movement.

    The Apapa GRA Residents Association President and a member of the PTT, Brig-Gen. Ayo Vaughan, praised the Team for making Apapa liveable. “We are glad to note that many who have fled Apapa are coming back and many are looking towards Apapa to locate their businesses once again,” he said. He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to further extend the tenure of the PTT as it is committed to the dream of returning Apapa’s lost glory.

    He, however, said for the efforts to be sustained,  all stakeholders must continue to play their part.

    Opeifa commended all for cooperating making President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of a- free-flow traffic at Apapa a reality. “The Federal Government is committed to the ease of doing business and when all the plans being put in place for Apapa fully come on stream, the gridlock would be a thing of the past,” he said.

  • Plentywaka begins operations Monday

    Crowdyvest is set to launch a bus hailing company, Plentywaka, which will begin operations on Monday, 16th September with 25 brand new buses.

    According to the MD/CEO of Crowdyvest, Onyeka Akumah, Plentywaka is all about using technology to affect lives.

    He noted that unlike other transport hailing companies, it is out to make millionaires of investors and staff, including drivers and vehicle assistants.

    “We are building a model to empower the drivers to become millionaires, creating jobs and are particular with the values as against just business making venture.”

    Drivers become bus owners after three years of driving a bus for Plentywaka on the condition that the bus is left in the impeccable state in which it was handed over to them and vehicle assistants can also own buses by investing, Akumah revealed.

    Read Also: ‘Farming is a lucrative business’

    He noted that the organsation’s decision to veer into transport business stemmed from the huge success that Farmcrowdy enjoyed in few years of operation and the need to change the way our buses are in Lagos. “We are particular about quality, safety, efficiency, time management.”

    Noting that Farmcrowdy investors are also investors in Plentywaka, Akumah said: “people that invested in Farmcrowdy have been moved to a platform called Crowdyvest.

    “The goal was to get them to Crowdyvest so that they won’t just invest in agriculture alone, but they can see investment opportunities in Plentywaka.”

    Akumah revealed that Ajah-CMS/CMS-Ajah and beyond will be the pilot route of Plentywaka, from where Plentywaka would expand to other routes within Lagos even as they add to their fleet.

    Akumah introduced Plentywaka’s Founding team in the following order, Johnny Enagwolo, Co-Managing Director, Plentywaka, John Shaibu, VP, Customer Engagement, Afolabi Oluseyi, VP Operations.

    Other partners are Pastor Debo Omotunde and Pastor Godman Akinlabi.

    Akumah called on all stakeholders in the transport sector to work with Plentywaka to make Lagos the desired mega city, adding that Plentywaka is not in completion but seeks to partner with the Lagos state government and indeed every stakeholder in the transport sector.

  • As Lagos tinkers with okada policy

    The plan by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to unveil a new policy for okada operators is generating mixed reactions from experts. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE reports.

    For many reasons, it seemed the only exciting news for Lagosians, as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu reeled out his achievements last Friday, was his willingness to enforce the restriction law on commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as Okada riders.

    At a ceremony marking the first 100 days of his administration at Agidingbi, Ikeja, Sanwo-Olu said the review became necessary to enable the government control commercial motor cycle operations and assure residents of safety.

    “It has become imperative for us as a government to map out new policies that would guide how okada riders operate in Lagos State. This would stem the tide of accidents and indiscriminate use of okada on Lagos roads,” Sanwo-Olu had said.

    The Ban/ Restriction

    Since the Lagos State Traffic Law came into effect on August 22, 2012, Okada operators have operated as outlaws.

    Citing safety issues, the government had embarked on massive clampdown, which has over the years, impounded eight million motor cycles and sent them to the state’s scrap yards.

    Section 3 (1) of the law had restricted Okada operators from 475 roads, highways and bridges. Though the government never totally banned them from all her roads, it restricted motorcycles with lower than 200cc to the inner city roads.

    Factors ranging from dangerous road attitudes, armed robbery, stealing to flouting of traffic laws were some of the reasons for the restriction.

    But for a megacity like Lagos, what constitutes inner city roads? Though the annexure of the law was clear on the roads on which commercial motorcycles were banned, the lacuna and ignorance soon gave way to extortion by security operatives who go on random raiding just to “get some quick dough”.

    Some Okada riders accused policemen of  harassment even when they plied routes not listed by the law. “Even on the inside roads, dem dey catch us,” said John Abaji said.

    But was there a compelling need to take the okada operators like Abaji off major roads? Indicators showed several reasons.

    At the Igbobi Orthopedic Hospital, a ward, prior to 2012, was dedicated to okada accident victims. Same goes for the government hospitals as well as private and trado-medical facilities, which are usually crammed.

    The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) statistics as at 2012 showed that no fewer than 107 persons died of okada accidents every day, while 512 persons sustained various  injuries. According to the statistics, 442 okada accidents were recorded daily in the state in 2012 alone.

    Insecurity compounded the growing accident ratio. The then Lagos State Police Commissioner, Umaru Manko, accused Okada operators of robbery. For him, it was either they are the criminals or they collude with criminals for quick get-away.

    The police had profiled Okada as the single most dangerous phenomenon in the state then. Security reports showed that most cases of mugging and burgling are carried out with okada.

    The restriction brought sanity on these two major areas, as a drastic reduction in accidents, injuries and deaths as well as cases of their involvement in crime has been recorded year on year.

    The mop up itself has sprung two schools of thought in the transportation sector. While some scholars agreed with the government that okada operation, being a circumstantial phenomenon, has no place in the state’s transportation architecture, another school of thought canvassed  their recognition.

    According to the first school, to which the immediate past Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation Dr Taiwo Salaam belongs, the state had no record of Okada as a form of transportation business until the dawn of the Fourth Republic. They argued that the operators must be muzzled by the force of law and replaced by public buses.

    The second school of thought, however, insisted that the okada operators must continued to be accommodated in transportation planning by the government.

    They argued that denying their existence or their activity and planning a policy without them is akin to the government hiding its head in sand like the ostrich.

    While for seven years the first school of thought seemed to have its way and hold sway, continued degeneration of state’s infrastructure have remained the single most potent trigger fueling its continued existence.

    The worsening and road crisis inherited by Sanwo-Olu, not only nullified arguments to stamp out Okada operators, it made it the preferred option by commuters desirous of moving about in the state.

    Nothing made the case for a revisit of the law more compelling than the arrest, penultimate Friday, of a truck load of 135 youths and 45 Okada by the Police at Agege. The truck from Jigawa, had brought the men into Lagos to “eke out a living on okada business”.

    New operators

    But even more significant is that the state’s transportation ecosystem has significant transformation since 2012.

    While motorcycles with engine capacity of about 100 or lower held sway up until 2012, a new set of entrepreneurs driven by technology, have taken the sub-sector by storm, setting up tech-driven hailing app companies round okada operations.

    From 2015, when Adetayo Bamiduro and Chinedu Azodoh co-founded Max.ng, and pushed MaxOkada, they have revolutionised okada transportation business, opening the eyes of youths to the huge potential in a sub-sector written off by the state.

    In an interview with, Azodoh disclosed that within three and a half years, Maxokada has completed one million trips and emerged as the leading logistics partner with Jumia, Nigeria’s leading online retail outlet.

    The Maxokada success story has also berthed several operators, such as Gokada, the latest being ORide, all promising commuters an opportunity to reduce their travel time by half.

    Azodoh said the operators were not breaking any laws. For him, Maxokada should be commended for taking hundreds of youths out of poverty. On the average, its riders receive between N50,000 and N80,000 monthly, and testimonies abound of how many were finding a rhythm by opting to operate their okada.

    He stated the company invests on top of the rate engines and crash helmets, with none of its machines being anything lower than 200cc. It embarks on aggressive training and re-training to drum its no-accident policy down the hearts of operators. Overall, Anazodoh said okada hailing firms had contributed to unlocking the economy that was almost prostrate as many roads became impassable in the last five years.

    Anazodoh ’s position was re-echoed by Gokada, which only in July, at a meeting with Sanwo-Olu had expressed its readiness to invest in the state’s waterways.

    Dean of the Lagos State University School of Transportation (LASU-SOT) Prof Samuel Odewunmi said transportation planning would continue to fail in the state if the government refused to acknowledge the role okada operators, especially the tech-driven ones, were playing in the business of transportation.

    Odewunmi said though the inclusion of Okadas as a recognised means of transportation may look demeaning, acknowledging their role is admitting the problem from where planning its mitigation and eradication becomes realisable.

    He said study has showed that okada has become ubiquitous as a means of transportation that no family in Lagos can ever say he has never ridden one before.

    According to him, okada, especially now that we have a more modern and comfortable ones operated by those who saw it as a business, would continue to throve if the roads remain deplorable.

    He praised the Transportation Commissioner Dr Frederic Oladeinde, for returning the okada issue to the round table. If properly harnessed, he said, the subsector could be a money spinner.

    Closing eyes to reality

    Oladeinde said: “You cannot close your eyes to them. It is only a government that is not ready to govern that would say it won’t recognise them. Whether you recognise them or not, they are here and will continue to exist because people are patronising them massively.”

    He said the government was right in going back to the drawing board to rework the traffic law and to come up with an outcome that will be binding on all stakeholders be it okada, bus, truck or private or other road users.

    “We need, for instance, to critically study the okada system, we need to understand it to enable us plan adequately. Understanding them will reveal why they continued to be patronized and how we can squeeze them out. For example, nobody will ply okada when you have an air-conditioned bus. It is because all other things have failed that we have them in operation. I think it is thriving because it is the last option for our people. A student going for exams will hop on okada if he is stuck in traffic. If he is to obey you and avoid okada, what options does he have? What magic would take him closer to the exam hall?

    Mathew Akinola, a planner said, it is ironic that a government that impounds okada is not only according okada unions recognition, but also collects revenue from them.

    Akinola, who praised the governor for his “willingness to reappraise the okada issue”, said the first thing the government needed to do was to know the quantum of the problem, i.e. the number of okada operators.

    He, like Odewunmi, believes that knowing them would help weed out faceless operators. “One of the several questions transportation planners must answer in coming up with new regulations is, ‘how many are they?’ Part of the regulations should be to ensure that operators are registered with their unions. This will ensure that you sanitise them and prevent the various abuses associated with their operation i.e., robbery, kidnapping, accidents etc,” he said.

    But Odewunmi urged Lagosians not to be too hasty, until they do not know what the government is up to. “The devil is in the details,” he said, so we must interrogate to know what the government wants to do.

    He counselled against the civil servants turning the exercise into another money-making exercise. The idea is to help sanitise the sector. The idea is to regulate the operators.

    “To do this, you must ensure they are carried along. That way you not only get their buy-in, but also be assured of their total compliance. That is the only way they would also be able to pay any fee charged by the government, believing that the policy is in their own interest,” Odewunmi stressed.

  • Here comes Transportation varsity

    The Federal Government’s plan to establish a Transportation University has generated mixed reactions among teachers, experts and industry stakeholders, ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes.

    The Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, which will mark its first 100 days in office on Thursday, may soon flag-off a landmark project – a University of Transportation.

    It would be the first specialised institution of its kind, aimed at developing human capital, capable of driving through research, the various transportation interventions being introduced by the administration.

    Transportation Minister Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, who made this known penultimate Friday, said the ground-breaking of the university would take place this month, in Daura, Katsina State.

    The university project is one of the requests from the Chinese government aimed at boosting Nigeria’s capacity to train the manpower required to sustain the ongoing transformation in the sector.

    It would be the nation’s premier tertiary institution for training transport professionals since independence. It is coming 99 years after the International University of Logistics and Transportation (IULT) was founded in Poland, and over 70 years of a similar varsity in Moscow,  Russia.

    Expected to draw inspiration from across the globe, where similar institutions had been established, the university would address manpower training, research and policy, which had been obtained offshore, especially in China.

    According to Amaechi, 150 Nigerians are slated for scholarships in all parts of Transportation Studies in China. While the first set of 60 left in 2016, another set of 60 is expected to proceed next year; the last set would follow later. On their return, they are expected to boost the industry, especially the railway tracks and rolling stocks.

    Since Nigeria’s independence, the transportation sector has remained the most neglected, despite the demand for experts to manage it.

    The only institution that held sway in the sector, until lately, was the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), established in the 50s by the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), to train its workforce on railway operations.

    The institute was taken over by the Ministry of Transportation, when the railway bankrupted. But the intervention had not impact  the sector, as the institute since inception, has remained a mere appendage and not recognised beyond awarding diploma certificates for short-term courses on transportation, especially rail systems and logistics.

    Transportation studies, in the main, have remained a mere appendage of either departments of Geography or Urban and Regional Planning in many of the recognised federal and state universities across the country.

    That was the story until 2008, when the Lagos State University (LASU) elevated Transportation Studies by establishing a School of Transportation Studies (LASU-SOT), the first, not only in Nigeria, but also in Southern Africa. A similar faculty of transportation existed only in Cairo, Egypt.

    Experts said, if properly nurtured, the project could be the catalyst for the growth and professionalisation of the sector.

    The absence of requisite skills in transportation education, transportation engineering and technology, transportation economics, and other critical adjuncts, have been described as the bane of the economic gloom.

    A transportation and logistics expert, who is also the Director Safety Without Borders (SWB), Mr Patrick Adenusi, blamed the dearth of professionals  on gross and misconceptions about transportation.

    For instance, while Amaechi was excited about the institution, which he enthused, would change the narrative of the sector, critics expressed concern about the need for another specialised institution.

    Though a don with the Ogun State University, Ago Iwoye, is non-pulsed that the university might not be at any cost to the nation, anothr queried the new varsity’s site at Daura, the President’s hometown.

    But they all agreed that the absence of training centres had continued to give rise to the preponderance of touts and quacks whose invasion of the road mode have continued to make a mess of the government’s intervention in terms of provision of rolling stocks aimed at shifting attention to public sector transportation.

    The almost total dominance of the road mode by touts, and transport unions agents, popularly called agberos, has continued to tar transportation with the mud of ignominy and this is despite that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) captured the road sub-sector as responsible for 98 percent of the nation’s travel needs.

    Adenusi urged the handlers of the project to collaborate with the LASU-SOT to develop competent professionals who would be able to hold their own in any field of transportation and logistics.

    “It is also envisaged that the project would not only raise professionals on road mode alone, but also encompass other modes of transportation – air, rail, water and perhaps, pipeline transportation,” he said.

    For him, another major advantage is that the school will increase the capacity of public institutions to admit more young secondary school graduates, many of whom are often in the lurch yearly as stricter measures are released year after year to further restrict admission.

    “Besides, products of the university would also be available to the world market, while Nigeria would be able to earn foreign exchange from foreign students who would come to acquire special skills relating to the sector,’’ he said.

    Adenusi agreed with proponents that the university bodes well for the country, as according to him, it would restore sanity to the sector.

    A member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transportation (CILT), who would not want his name published, said the university would proffer solution to the endemic challenges bedeviling the sector.

    A source at the NITT, Zaria, admitted the project was laudable. He, however, urged the government to prioritise its objectives, set achievable and measurable timelines, and ensure that the Chinese government or the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), does not turn the project into another white sepulchre.

    The source, who did not want his name in print, said failure to do this could derail the project.

    To succeed, the source said, the new university could copy the LASU-SOT template and expand into a full university curriculum. “The curriculum developers need to develop faculties and departments that meet local needs and relevant to the skills readily available in the market. If this is done, government would have prevented the project becoming a mere dumping ground for all expired ideologies and theories which are no longer relevant in the sector.

    Nigeria’s foremost transportation teacher and an advocate of the project, Dr Tajudeen Bawa’Allah, said the government should handle the school over to professionals, who are passionate about the industry, adding that to do otherwise, would be akin to killing it.

    Bawa’Allah, 78, the first LASU-SOT dean, praised the minister for the idea, which according to him, would give transportation studies a place of pride.

    Bawa’Allah, who described transportation as the essence of life and human activity, including procreation, added that no activity is complete without transportation. He described those opposing the idea as ignorant of the pride of place transportation occupies in their lives.

    He challenged the Federal Government to make a success of the dream in the interest of the coming generation. Citing, among others, the impact of the SOT, Bawa’Allah said among the first set of graduates produced by the school in 2013, seven would be completing their doctorates at various universities in the United States.

    He said not only did former Governor Fashola give a building to the university, he also provided foreign scholarships to all graduating students, a practice he lamented was stopped by his successor.

    LASUSOT has three departments, which could stand as take off points for six faculties for transportation university. These, according to him, are: Transport Management,  Transport Logistics and Transport Infrastructure.

    Others are Transport Technology, Transport Planning and Transport Policy.

    The Transportation University would provide the opportunities for education, training and research in transportation related disciplines and industries that are lacking in the country’s niversities, such as Transport Economics, Transport Tunnels, Military Purpose Vehicles, Bridges, Ship building, Jetliner Engine Design and construction.

    The list could be longer, he said, adding that  the university would grow towards full complements of transportation.

    He said the Chinese/Nigeria collaboration is  heart-warming for a well-funded university, the cost implications not-withstanding.

    He supported the siting of the varsity in Daura, saying being the link of the speed train to Niamey in Niger Republic, it would bring development to to the town, and that it would complement the National Railway Project being carried  in conjunction with the Chinese government.

    Training of our youths in China is being done  under the Daura Project meant to serve generations of Nigerians.

  • Wanted: A new transportation roadmap for Lagos

    As the new Transportation Commissioner and his team settle down in Lagos State, experts insist it is time for a new road map, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    You have to read a lot. You can’t do this business without reading. I welcome you to a life of service to your nation and state. Forget about prayers, it is what you do that matters. You have signed up for a difficult job but it is a noble undertaking to serve your people. You have to prove you deserve to be here …”

    These are former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola’s words at the closing ceremony of Lagos exco members’ retreat on Saturday.

    Fashola, like other resource persons selected to charge the 2019 class of commissioners, special advisers and permanent secretaries, reminded them of the huge challenges ahead, and the need to gear up and translate the vision of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of returning a prosperous, smart and healthy state to Lagosians within 48 months.

    With a population of 26.6 million, according to the state Bureau of Statistics, and an economy estimated to be the fifth largest in Africa, Lagos State, which is Nigeria’s financial capital, is reputed to have become a victim of its success story as a ‘working and prosperous’ city-state.

    One of the critical areas in which Lagosians may judge the impact of the Sanwo-Olu-led administration would be transportation.

    THEMES

    The governor, in his inaugural speech, unveiled six focal areas aptly called THEMES with transportation and transport safety and systems topping the list of priorities.

    Barely 24 hours in power, Sanwo-Olu signed an Executive Order declaring zero tolerance on traffic congestion, mandating more efficient traffic management, and road rehabilitation by the state’s Public Works Unit aimed at the removal of potholes, as well as the clearing of all drainage channels of impediments.

    The appointments of Dr Frederic Oladeinde and Mr Oluwatoyin Fayinka as Commissioner for Transportation and Special Adviser on Transportation elicited excitement among stakeholders of the sector.

    Oladeinde, a United States-trained transportation expert, holds a doctorate degree in Transportation Planning. He was until his appointment the Executive Director, Corporate Planning, at the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA). They are to be assisted by a new Permanent Secretary, Mr Olawale Musa, who was the General Manager of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA).

    Before their appointments, intra-city travels was a nightmare, with experts saying Lagos had been seized by the worst  of road crisis.

    A former Commissioner of Transportation, Comrade Kayode Opeifa, described the past four years as the “years of the locust”. He said they were years when transportation collapsed.

    The new team will deploy solutions to resuscitate the comatose sector.

    Fashola admitted that the Sanwo-Olu administration was coming at a time the state is most challenged, with transportation  the weakest link in the chain.

    The saving grace, he said, is that the challenges are surmountable, challenging the governor and his team to perform the magic. He advised the administration to prioritise the blue light rail.

    Dilapidated roads

    Almost all the 700 road networks in the state are in various stages of dilapidation with the three asphalt plant production centres at Ojodu, Imota and Badagry abandoned. A Ministry of Transportation official, who craved anonymity, claimed the former governor abandoned road maintenance for legacy projects.

    The change in the transportation masterplan in the last four years saw the delivery of the Jubilee flyovers at Ajah and Abule-Egba, 24 roads and six bridges in Alimosho, and about 171 inner city roads.

    Hanging are the Oshodi interchange and terminals, the six other terminals at Maryland, Yaba, Agege, Ojodu-Berger, Maryland and Obalende, the Agege Flyover Bridge, and the Oshodi-International Airport Road and ramp, as well as the remodelling of the Abule-Egba-Oshodi Expressway with median BRT lane.

    Safety Without Borders Executive Director Mr Patrick Adenusi said though former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s most profound legacies were executed in the transportation sector, the same sector became his nemesis as Lagosians had the worst travel experience.

    He wondered why the government would abandon the Blue Light Rail, despite being at about 70 percent completion stage since the Fashola era. He said the train meant to move on the Mile 2-Orile-Marina corridor would have redistributed traffic.

    Expectations

    Experts say one of the priorities of the commissioner and his team is resuscitating LAMATA and restoring it to its pride of place as the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), coordinating the government’s policies, programmes and interventions in public sector transportation.

    They argued that the blurring of the line of demarcation between LAMATA and the ministry in the past led to the friction that affected the sector.

    “While the ministry formulates policies LAMATA in the past was coordinating the implementation in line with best global practices,” a senior staff member of LAMATA said, expressing the hope that with a former LAMATA staff member in the saddle, a return of that tradition might not be long in coming.

    Former Dean, Lagos State University School of Transportation (LASU-SOT), Dr Tajudeen Olukayode Bawa’Allah, gave the new helmsmen three mandates – infrastructure renewal, policy implementation and professionalisation of the ministry.

    Decrying the absence of alternative routes across Lagos, the nonagerian charged the government to prioritise alternative roads, especially along arterial roads and from the interland or inner cities to link the urban centres.

    Citing the recent shut down of Mile 12 by the Public Works Corporation (PWC) for repairs, he said the absence of alternative roads from Ikorodu shut many people out of Lagos as their only link was shut down for repairs.

    “That chaotic experience was avoidable if the government had constructed alternative roads,” he said.

    Bawa’Allah called for the prioritisation of the Mile 12-Ishawo-Isheri Road, which links the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which was 70 percent completed by the Fashola-led administration, but abandoned by the succeeding administration.

    He also called for the construction of the Fourth Mainland Bridge, which was also abandoned by past government.

    He charged the commissioner and his team to push for the actualisation of the transportation policy, the first by any state government.

    He said the approval of such a policy would change the face of the transportation sector.

    He urged the government to sustain the professionalisation of the ministry.

    “The Lagos State government has professionalised the Ministry of Transportation, just as it has done for the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice. Instructively, this has been adopted by the National Council on Transportation and other states are copying it.

    For the Dean LASU-SOT Prof Samuel Odewunmi, the first critical task for the commissioner should be the sustenance of efforts to palliate all road networks in line with the zero potholes policy of the Sanwo-Olu administration.

    According to him, the maintenance of the state transport infrastructure should be statutory and not ad hoc or episodic. He called for yearly budgetary allocation for road maintenance.

    For Odewunmi, his second priority for the government should be the completion of Lagos State portion of the Badagry Expressway up to Okokomaiko, with the federal portion up to Agbara and Badagry addressed, in collaboration of state government.

    Describing the corridor as the spinal cord of road travel in Lagos, up to Epe, Odewunmi said as the only international highway into the state through the West coast, it is strategically important to make the corridor attractive, especially for local and foreign tourists.

    Also important, according to Odewunmi, is the sustenance of the drive to clear Apapa of its age-old gridlock. He said a decongested Apapa is in the utmost interest of the economy of the state and the country.

    He called for the speedy completion of ongoing road projects, including the Abule-Egba-Oshodi Expressway as well as the Agege flyover bridge and roads.

    The don also wants completed the Oshodi Interchange and Ikeja terminal as well as the roll out of the Bus Reform Initiative (BRI).

    “All the 850 buses delivered to the government for the BRI project must be put to the roads systematically and not just packed and abandoned by the government,” he said.

    Odewunmi charged the government to build on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority and the government on the waterways to ensure the enthronement of stiff regulations for craft operators on the waterways.

    He called for more steps at intermodality of the road-rail, water and air transportation, arguing that the state has comparative advantage to make success of all the modes of transportation if appropriate parameters are in place.

    Conclusion

    Odewunmi challenged the commissioner to “a matter of urgency develop implementation roadmap for the Transport policy document.”

    He said: “Fortunately, the commissioner is aware of the policy document and was there at several stages of the formulation of the policy. I am aware he may have reservations about some aspects of the policy but he should not jettison it. He could get whatever amendment he deemed fit to improve the policy and implement it, as it was put together by experts who have the best interest of the state at heart.”

    Activating some, or all of these, is the least, Oladeinde and his team could do to prove that their choice at this time is not a a mistake. Lagosians earnestly look forward to a new, reinvigorated sector.

  • OPay launches ‘OTrike’ in Kano

    Opera-founded startup, OPay, has introduced ‘OTrike’, a tricycle hauling service, in the northwestern city, Kano offering prices for as low as N30 per trip and 50% discount as part of its launch promotion.This development has met with positive reactions from the residents of Kano State.

    OTrike, like ORide and OBus, is a tricycle hailing service that will operate using branded tricycle popularly known as Keke Napep for intrastate trips within Kano.

    In 2018, the startup started operations as a mobile payment platform. It has since diversified its product offerings into motorcycle ride-hailing, ORide; food delivery service, OFood; OBus and the current one OTrike.

    Speaking during the launch, Director of Operations at ORide, Ridwan Olalere said; “This is in continuation of the founding vision of ORide which is, to make smart commuting accessible to people of all walks of life, at an affordable rate.

    “ORide is about creating opportunities by helping people move from where they are to where they need to be, to make it happen”.

    Read Also: Tackling unemployment through ride-hailing technology

    Meanwhile, the ‘OTrike’ riders have received android smartphones as part of their on-boarding kit and have also been trained with respect to international safety and security standards.

    The firm further disclosed that it has engaged the Kano State Government and upon the official launch of ‘OTrike’, it was invited by the Government to further clarify and educate the Government on its business model including its pricing approach.

    Upon concluding its Government verification, the firm has gained the confidence of the state government in the platform and as such leveraged on OTrike’s solutions for regulating the Tricycle business in Kano.

    The firm promised to restructure its business to fully integrate with the State’s commerce laws by partaking in the Keke registration via KAROTA.

    Since launching in Kano, OTrike has delivered several benefits including, providing employment to many Kano residents; paying well above the minimum wage; direct investment in the state through its operations and also providing a safe and secure ecosystem for passengers commuting through Keke.

  • Peace Mass Transit partners Ondo on transport

    Ondo State government and Peace Mass Transit Ltd have entered a partnership with the inauguration of Ondo Sunshine Travels.

    Chief Samuel Onyishi, who nurtured Peace Mass Transit from a lowly two-bus start-up in 1995 to a multi billion naira conglomerate, said private-public partnership wasn’t exactly an unknown business model but the PMT-Ondo Sunshine was the first of its kind involving a state government and a private entrepreneur.

    He added: “In the end, the people, the masses of Ondo and Nigeria at large, are the ultimate beneficiaries of this marriage. I’m not one to back away from trying a new business idea except it doesn’t make good sense at all or tends to have oppressive tendencies.”

    Admitting that most businesses would thrive better on monopoly, the businessman labelled it as anti-people.

    He noted: “I will not let the opportunity to serve the people on a new platform pass me by. It might have required a bit of bending over backwards and clearly meant venturing into new, uncharted territory, but I never fear to dare.”

    READ ALSO: Photo: Free eye test for Peace Mass Transit drivers

    Onyishi stated that the disposition and personality of the Governor of Ondo State, Barrister Oluwarotimi Akerelolu, were helpful.

    He said: “The governor too had clear ideas on how to render populist services, apparently drawing from his massive professional exposure as a human right lawyer and activist before venturing into partisan politics.

    “Ondo Sunshine Travels is conceived to provide jobs for indigenes of the state and create transport entrepreneurs through the Driver-To-Owner scheme pioneered by PMT.”

    Onyishi also pledged at the inauguration to spare no resources to ensure the Ondo Sunshine Travels delivered on its mandate to Ondo people and Nigerians.

  • Challenges before new transportation minister

    As the nation awaits tomorrow’s inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet, ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes on the challenges before the new Transportation Minister

    The atmosphere inside the boardroom of the Papalanto works yard on May 24, 2019, was charged. It was former Transportation Minister Mr Rotimi Amaechi’s last official engagement, and he had led the team on the inspection of the $1.5 billion Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge rail line. It was a day of tributes, drama and prayers. Emotions were high. Even Amaechi was misty eyed, and once or twice, had to mop his eyes with handkerchief. “You people are being unfair to me. I never expected this,” he told the crowd made up of Ministry officials, the contractor – CCECC, representatives of the governments of Ogun, Oyo and Lagos and transport reporters.

    At a meeting with the then leadership of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), led by its Managing Director, Eng. Oluseyi Sijuwade, Amaechi said the government is determined to give Nigerians a new railway architecture in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of making it the backbone of public transportation.

    According to Amaechi, the government would continue with the ongoing rehabilitation (of the narrow gauge and its eventual concessionairing) and the modernisation (construction of standard gauge) agenda of its predecessor in line with the Nigerian Railway’s 25 year-modernisation masterplan.

    The Buhari administration, he said, is determined to connect the Federal and each of the 36 states capital by rail.

    Four years ago, the nation was yet to have standard gauge. What existed was the narrow gauge, with its aging coaches and rot wagons which operated in fits and starts.

    “Our desire is to bring back the lost glory of this corporation, which was one of the legacies of our colonial heritage. By the time we finish and connect all capitals with standard gauge, we would be able to attract the middle class back to be patronising the railway,” Amaechi had said.

    First he concentrated on the quick wins, by ensuring the Buhari government capped the ongoing Abuja-Kaduna standard rail line, which though started in 2005, but was bogged down by avoidable delays.

    By February 2016, he ensured the test run of the rail line and commenced commercial activity on the line two months after.

    He also pushed for the completion of the Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri standard gauge, (the nation’s first standard gauge experiment though as an exclusive industrial line) to service the Ajaokuta Steel plant by November of same year.

    The Buhari administration altered the original plan of the Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri standard rail line meant to exclusively feed the nation’s steel needs and answer to its export via Warri sea ports at Onne.

    The alteration necessitated the Ministry of Transportation taking over the line from the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, which was financing the project for the Steel Mill. The result of the alteration to the masterplan necessitated the construction of 10 new rail stations and two worksyard. All stations have park and ride facilities to improve travel experience of Nigerians.

    The change in rail line’s masterplan is in line with the administration’s vision to link all capitals with modern rail.

    Government is already collating bidders for a rail link from Ajaokuta, in Kogi State, to Abuja, the nation’s capital.

    Grand Vision

    Was he able to achieve such grand vision? Transportation and logistics experts agreed he did within four years.

    By December 2015, he announced the decision of the Federal Government to concession the narrow gauge to American Corporation General Electric (GE) and much of 2016 was spent trying to smoothen the cracks and get the concession off the ground.

    By 2017, based on festering hitches the Federal Government appointed Technical Transaction Advisors (TA) to handle the government’s side of the transaction. Though the deal met a brickwall from the staff, who resisted the concessioning, government seemed determined to go ahead and eventually entered a truce to include workers’ representatives on the TA as observers.

    Among other agreements reached with GE was the construction of University of Transportation to train all classes of manpower for the emerging specialized needs of the railway corporation, and the smooth train technology transfer to qualified Nigerians, re-fleeting of rolling stocks such as locomotives, coaches and wagons.

    The deal however sailed into stormy waters when GE opted to handle only cargo business alone against Fed Govt’s insistence on cargo and passenger traffic. The hiatus eventually led to GE’s disengagement, hinging in the global streamlining of its corporate activities which had removed transportation away from its core priorities.

    For the first time, Nigerians are seeing a massive capital project taking shape and performing within its first life cycle.

    While Nigeria’s first experiment was not achieved until after 38 years, and the second, made it after 12 years, Nigerians are seeing a government attempt to complete a 157 (originally 156 km, but extended to accommodate the new Ibadan International Cargo Dry Port), within four years.

    Amaechi had only 23 months of hard work to transform the nation’s rail corporation’s history.

    Experts said Amaechi has worked hard to return to his desk.

    “Amaechi has raised the bar. Through him, we can now see that nothing is impossible to be achieved by Nigerians. If he is retained, it would mean the President is committed to transforming the railway in line with his promise. If he is changed however, the new Minister must learn the rope fast and ensure he does not go lower than the standard Amaechi is leaving,” one of the representatives of the Ogun State government who preferred not to be mentioned said on a telephone interview on Friday.

    Quick Wins

    One of the quick wins for the new minister would be the completion of the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge, within the completion cycle. It was reliably gathered the project would be completed in May 2020.

    Already, the two legs of the rail have touched Ibadan. What remains  is the construction of the 10 railway stations and the completion of the Lagos end of the project from Iju to Apapa Ports, where the federal executive council last year approved an extension to link all the five terminal operators both at Apapa Wharf and the Tin Can Island Port.

    Completing the Lagos-Ibadan project, would signal the take-off of the Ibadan to Kano standard gauge line, thus completing the modernisation of the Western Line (Lagos-Kano). The project, with a siding into Abuja from Minna, is expected to be completed in 2023.

    The new minister would be expected to midwife the ambitious Lagos-Port Harcourt coastal rail line, which would link all coastal states, south of the country by rail.

    Also on the master plan is to develop a standard gauge line to Niger Republic, from Kano, thus creating a route for the nation’s landlocked neighbours to meet their import needs through the nation’s ports down south. This would boost Nigeria’s import competitiveness in the sub-region where importers routed their imports through Ghana and Benin Republic Ports

    Beyond the linkages that the railway offers is the opportunities for employment. Between eight and 10,000 jobs were created on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge alone, while the Ibadan to Kano is projected to generate between 10,000 to 20,000 new jobs as either direct or auxiliary jobs or services.

    A new reinvigorated rail service would undoubtedly free up the nation’s economy. Not only would there be a drastic reduction in man-hours lost to traffic congestion, with its attendant improvement in outputs, the linkage of the rail service with the agricultural and industrial belt of the nation would jump start the otherwise comatose industrial sector.

    Maritime Sector

    The Minister of Transportation will also be expected to continue the strides of the Amaechi leadership in the task of establishing a new window for indigenous shipping lines.

    Amaechi battled in the last four years to sanitise the maritime sector, with the enthronement of a single tariff window for operators and indigenous ship owners.

    The new minister will continue with reforms aimed at birthing for Nigeria a shipping line that would return the nation’s lost glory as the leading and biggest economy in the sub-region and in the African continent.

    The new minister hardest task on the maritime sector would be infrastructure. All access roads to all the nation’s ports are deplorable. Most guilty are the Eastern Ports, which are mainly redundant as a result of poor access.

    Same applies to Lagos where poor access roads have compounded the congestion crisis, leaving a huge toll on the residents.

    Also to be addressed are the issues of bringing all terminal operators under strict control. Achieving this has been a major challenge in the past.

    There is also the need to streamline the areasa of conflict between NPA and the Nigeria Shippers Council and other agencies in the maritime sector.

    At the core of the assignment before the new minister is to berth intermodal transportation. A corollary of this is the strengthening of the ports capacity to develop dry ports across the country. Besides helping to develop local economies of host states and zones where such are established, dry ports would greatly enhance the capacity of the rail system and reduce drastically pressure on the roads, thereby reducing the wear and tear and cost of repairs.

    Removal of Legal Webs

    The minister will also be expected to lead the reformation of the nation’s transportation sector. He will be expected to birth a national transportation policy. Transportation pundits such as Dr Tajudeen Bawa’Allah insisted Nigeria is ripe for a transportation policy. He challenged the new Minister to make its actualisation a priority.

    Bawa’Allah had been at the forefront of various committees set up to birth such policies by previous governments. He said such a policy would better sanitise the sector and make it more productive.

    The new minister may also need to activate the ministry to push for the quick dispensation of all outstanding bills relating to the sector still hanging at the National Assembly. Six bills, among them; the Nigerian Railway Corporation Act 1954 Amendment Bill, the Nigerian Transportation Commission Bill, the Nigerian Shippers Council and Nigeria Ports Authority Amendment Bill among others must not be allowed to die with the eighth National Assembly.

  • Resolving Lagos’ road crisis

    The impending dry season will offer Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC) the opportunity to fix most roads that have become a nightmare to Lagosians and the state’s major headache, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    From Ishaga to Agbado, Imota, Ikorodu, to Ikeja, and from Badagry, to Okokomaiko, Oshodi, Apapa, to Marina, Lekki, to Victoria Island, Lagosians are facing virtually the same challenge – bad roads.

    Short of declaring an emergency on roads, the Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led administration has prioritised transportation and made road infrastructure a corner piece of his five-point agenda.

    The governor might have taken a cue from experts, who had urged the government to chart a new course in policies if it must save the state from total transportation paralysis.

    Dean, School of Transportation Studies,  Lagos State University (LASU), Prof Samuel Odewunmi, had at the first yearly lecture of the school, last month, propounded two theories, which he said could bring instant relief and new travel experience to Lagosians.

    Citing the first theory, he said:“Our heritage will always be bigger than our legacy,” while canvassing the return of maintenance culture and sustenance of all inherited transport infrastructure against the pursuit of legacy projects. The second theory is: “Our travel time and experience are defined by the worst part of the journey”.

    According to the transport scholar, the focus on legacy or signature projects to the detriment of maintenance of inherited projects was the bane of the former Ainwumi Ambode administration, urging his successor to pursue sustenance rather than legacy as no government could achieve or bequeath more to its people in four years than the totality of its wealth inherited from previous governments.

    The ugly narrative of Lagos roads, Odewumi said,  could only be changed not by any staggering projects, but by government addressing all bad roads and enthroning all-year-round maintenance culture to prevent further deterioration.

    Blood in arteries

    Liking bad spots on roads to clots in human blood arteries, Odewunmi said only regular maintenance could prevent clotting (congestion) and eventual death (total collapse of the road).

    He said: “To avoid traffic cardiac arrests, the government must work on all pot holes, craters or distressed spots on the roads to enable people enjoy their travels around the state.

    “School of Transportation (SOT) will always assist the government in continuously studying all the difficult spots and provide timely, simple, cheap and effective solutions to give Lagos commuters significant better travel experience on the roads.”

    Since assumption of office, Governor Sanwo-Olu has left no one in doubt about his commitment to smoother road network.

    Not only did he sign an executive order on transportation within 24 hours of his assumption of office, he gave a marching order to the state’s public works department to embark on aggressive remediation of all roads in the state.

    Sanwo-Olu has also restated his commitment to the state’s masterplan, which also gained a mileage with the willingness of former Governor Babatunde Fashola, to openly associate with it.

    Fashola, whose last public appearance in the state was four years ago, was at the Traffic Radio lecture last month, where he called for a state of emergency on the roads.

    The former Minister of Power, Works and Housing had described traffic congestion as “a blessing” and argued that “it is not totally strange for any state that plays  Lagos’ role in their economy to experience gridlock, citing New York, in the United States, or London, in the United Kingdom, among others, where traffic was equally challenging”.

    Fashola insisted that despite forays into other modes of transportation such as rail, air and water, roads would continue to shoulder a huge proportion of travel needs of the people.

    “What that means is that you must continue to work at ensuring that the roads continue to serve the purpose for which they were constructed. You must continue to fix all roads, ensuring regular maintenance to prevent them from dilapidation.”

    NBS Data

    Although the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) estimated vehicle population in Nigeria as at second quarter of 2018 at 11, 760,871, which was about 0.06per cent of the nation’s estimated population of 193, 392,517, vehicle density in Lagos State is estimated to be above national average at 1,456,770.

    For more than half a century, vehicle density in the state remained low due largely to poverty, but the narrative changed from 1970s, following the nation’s economic prosperity arising from the oil boom and the enhanced wages of civil servants (then known as the Udoji awards). The new boom gave birth to the educated middle class whose taste changed quickly from the acquisition of bicycles to ownership of motor cars. As cars of various shades and brands took over, there was the need for more roads to be constructed, and the country, especially Lagos, which served as the nation’s capital became the construction yard. This resulted into over 70 per cent of the road network in the state being classified as Federal roads, as they were stratified into Trunk A, B or C roads, with states coming up with primary, secondary and tertiary roads classifications to demarcate them in terms of their centrality and critical importance network.

    Prosperity

    Although Fashola would see the growing vehicular density as a measure of the state’s continued prosperity, but a safety consultant, and Executive Director of Safety Without Borders (SWB), Mr Patrick Adenusi, argued that bad roads accounted for about 70 per cent of reasons the roads are clogged and smooth travel have become a rarity in Lagos.

    Adenusi, who agreed with Fashola on the state’s continued economic viability, however challenged the government to audit its road network in order to provide timely solution to prevent total collapse of roads in the state.

    Being home to the nation’s busiest water, air ports, as well as the nation’s money and capital markets, Lagos, according to Adenusi, will continue to attract huge traffic.

    Describing transportation as the wheel of the economy, Adenusi insisted that “the state and the country would not be able to maximise their economic viability if the perennially chaotic traffic remains untamed”.

    Admitting that the state roads were in a terrible state, Lagos State Public Works Corporation’s (LSPWC’s) General Manager, Mr Olufemi Daramola, pleaded for understanding and patience.

    “If we are not yet within your area, we are on our way,” Daramola said last week. “What we inherited when we assumed office was a total disaster and we have been given a strong mandate to get rid of as much distress, gridlock and as many potholes as we can in the possible shortest time,” he said.

    According to him, the agency is committed to implementing  Sanwo-Olu’s directive, adding that with the state’s three asphalt production units back in operation, the agency is better positioned to deploy men and materials in the three different locations at Ojodu, Imota (in Ikorodu) and Badagry simultaneously to fix roads and make motoring more pleasurable for commuters.

    “I must admit that we have a major road crisis on our hands, but we want to assure Lagosians that we are committed to rehabilitating all our roads,” he said.

    Daramola who assumed office on June 15, said though he and his men had hit the ground running, their task were hampered by the rain, which made remediation impossible, but urged patience as the agency will swing into action during the dry season.

    He said the agency’s investigation has revealed that about 60 per cent of the roads have outlived their designed lifespan and needs total rehabilitation rather than isolated fixing of pot holes as envisaged.

    Daramola, a civil engineer, said “besides the current intervention, the agency plans to establish ‘gangs’ in all the 20 local governments and 37 LCDAs to improve LSPWC’s responsiveness to road distress. The LSPWC would also continue to work with Traffic Radio, Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) and the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), in order to continue to update its database on distressed roads.

    “We empathise with our people, and we want to assure them that we are working tirelessly across the state. The rain is there, sometimes, we have down times of our own facilities, but we can promise that once the rains subside we will double our efforts, because we can be sure that if we are deploying materials it would not be washed away. We have had to work on some locations four times due to heavy downpour. This is making our job cumbersome and highly challenging, but we are going to beg for more understanding from our people.

    ”I am very convinced that before the next rainy season the state would be in a better position as we are committed to the zero potholes directive of His Excellency,” he said.

    Daramola also disclosed that the government would soon unveil a holistic drainage master plan.“Our findings showed that the state needs to urgently address its drainage systems as all the six channels have become grossly inadequate for the state.

    “Where they are available, we discovered that many of our drainage have failed and heavily silted. Many are out of alignments and no longer collect storm water. The effect is that storm water that ought to pass through them end up being retained by the roads. This ultimately causes depression on the road and affect mobility,” he said.

    He said while the LSPWC would continue to make the road useful and passable, the ultimate solution to perennial bad roads is to open up all the clogged and failed drainage in order to ensure that storm water that could damage the roads are not retained on them.

    He said the coming dry season, being the first in the life of Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration, would be fully exploited to address all lingering challenges that Lagosians face on the road.

    “I can assure you that a multi-agency strategy would soon be massively deployed by the government in its determination to change the transportation narrative once the dry season begins,” he said.