The Nation Newspaper

Category: Transportation

  • Improving traffic safety, transport planning

    Improving traffic safety, transport planning

    Lagos State Government is leaving no one in doubt of its determination to enforce traffic safety and tighten the loose ends of its transport planning, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    Two initiatives, aimed at redefining Lagos State’s traffic and transportation architecture, were rolled out by the government last week.

    The first was the clampdown on commercial motorcycle operators (okada), which resumed with greater fervor last Tuesday, while the other was the flag-off of the Intelligence Transportation System (ITS) and e-ticketing platform to make transportation more seamless for Lagosians.

    Flagging off the ITS at Ojota last Thursday, Ambode said his intention was to make public sector transportation more attractive and erase traffic gridlocks.

    “I get so unhappy when I see people standing at bus stops for hours not knowing when the next bus will arrive. We are committed to permanently solving such problems and our people can become more productive and then more comfortable in the way they commute across the city,” Ambode said.

    He said the ITS, which apart from indicating the positions of the buses and their routes, will start with the Primero BRT buses shuttling the Ikorodu-CMS axis. This, he added, will be scaled up as soon as more buses are introduced and services on other routes join the system.

    He disclosed that the government was determined to inject 800 buses in the next two months into the Bus Reform Initiative and 5,000 to be provided within 24 months.

    He said with e-ticketing, commuters would be able to plan their disposable incomes.

    He said: “The truth is that there are more Lagosians using buses, and more walking on the road than those who own cars and government needs to take proper care of them. That is what all the laybys, ITS and e-ticketing is all about.

    “Ultimately, we intend to create an integrated transport management system in the city, combining water, road, rail, air and pedestrian walkways.”

    He urged residents to cooperate with the government, especially by not patronising motorcyclists as the government is providing alternatives for a safer road travel.

    The war to get okada operators off Lagos roads started in 2010, when the former Governor Babatunde Fashola began the implementation of the Strategic Transportation Masterplan (STMP), which aimed at bequeathing a functional transportation system to meet the needs of a megacity.

    Though that initial step was resisted, with the okada operators winning at the court, the government soon came up with a traffic law in 2012, which addresses the transportation challenges.

    Schedule II of the Road Traffic and Vehicle Inspection Law 2012, specifically restricted okada operations from 465 roads in the 20 local governments and 37 LCDAs, and on 11 highways which are; Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Oworonshoki- Oshodi Expressway, Lagos-Ikorodu Expressway, Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Third Mainland Bridge, Eti-Osa/Lekki -Epe Expressway.

    Others are: Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Funso Williams Avenue, Agege Motor Road, and Eti-Osa/Lekki Coastal Road.

    Though the enforcement of the law has been in breaches since 2012, the renewed onslaught against the okada operators is in furtherance of Ambode’s commitment to ensuring safety of road users.

    Indications showed that the restriction on okada operations have had a sanitising effect on the state’s accident profile. Before 2012, okada- related accident accounted for 70 per cent of admissions at various tertiary and orthopedic hospitals in the state.

    A top official in the Ministry of Transportation said there’s no going back on the enforcement of the restriction order on okada operation in the state.

    He said: “This government is not ready to go back to the pre 2012 era. The government is saying okada is not an acceptable mode of transportation in Lagos State and no amount of intimidation, blackmail, or politicisation of the policy could draw back it’s commitment to sanitise the state’s transportation system.”

    Experts say it’s gratifying that the present administration is determined to stop the menace of okada.

    Commuters say the clampdown has had a telling effect on the transportation pattern in the last one week. They argued that though the original plan was to restrict the operators’ operations on major roads, yet, in the current rout, all okada anywhere were impounded by security operatives. The action left commuters stranded. They argued that the operators are in business to eke out a living.

    Many of the operators are graduates who,  left with no option, gave in to the business, critics of the move argued. They said many have been keeping their homes from proceeds of the business. They wondered what job the government has in store before throwing the operators into the icy embrace of unemployment.

    The founder of Safety Without Borders (SWB), Patrick Adenusi, said no smart city ran on the hub of okada. Praising Ambode for his commitment, Adenusi said though there was the social as well as the economic angle to the resilience of the okada operators, yet, on a larger scale, it is an unsustainable mode of transportation for a state ready to play in the big league as a functional, technology-driven and smart state.

    The Managing Director of Planet Project, Mr. Biodun Otunola, said with the government’s ambitious plans to reform the transportation system, the okada era might have gone for good.

    Though the government restricted their operation to inner roads, the fact is that okada does not represent what should be celebrated as a means of commercial operation in any sane state, he argued.

    “When the government completes its bus and other transportation reforms, Lagosians would no longer be attracted to okada operators or patronise them for any travel, no matter the distance.”

    He praised the government for making traffic safety a priority, adding that with the okada off the road, sanity will prevail and road users would be able to use the road more responsibly.

    Lagos, with an economy reputed to be the fifth largest in Africa, has been running on an unorganised and informal motorised transportation system.

    Ambode said his target was to push Lagos to the number three spot. To achieve this, he has his eyes on improving the ease of doing business. This means more money will stream into the state’s purse if it resolves its perennial travel pattern and improves on passenger and cargo travels.

    With about nine million of her population commuting daily, an improved transportation system holds the key to unlocking the about N9 billion that exchanges hands in the informal sector daily. Yet more could be made if the six million who walk daily could be captured in the new transportation plan.

    Among other sectors, transportation holds the key to the realisation of Ambode’s ambition to shore up the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to N30b monthly this year and to N50b by 2018.

    To achieve this, the administration has flagged off some capital projects statewide.

    From the BRT lane on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway which terminates at Oshodi, and other interventions in Badagry, Epe and across the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas, the state has become a construction site of some sort.

    Besides delivering 114 roads within the first 18 months, the government is set to begin work on another 118 roads, and that is in spite of landmark projects such as the Oshodi transportation interchange, the Badagry deep sea port, the Blue light rail project and the Abule-Egba-Oshodi Bus Rapid Transit median redevelopment taking shape on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

    Barely two months ago, the government flagged off the reconstruction of the Oshodi-International Airport Road, which would be delivered by November 2018.

    Lagos’ intervention followed Ambode’s request to President Muhammadu Buhari to transform the nation’s busiest gateway to world-class standard.

    He said with vehicular volume averaging 50,000 daily, its present parlous state was unacceptable, as it was undignifying of the status of the state as the nation’s commercial hub and Africa’s fifth largest economy.

    Specifically, the design of the project includes the reconstruction and expansion of the existing carriage to three-lane expressway on both directions, construction of two-lane service road in both directions, construction of ramp bridge to provide a U-turn from Ajao Estate to Airport, construction of a flyover at NAHCO/Toll Gate and drainage works.

    The design will also see the removal of existing pedestrian bridge at Ajao Estate and the reconstruction of same at Ajao Estate and NAHCO/Hajj Camp, construction of Slip Road to provide access to Ajao Estate, construction of Lay-bys and installation of street lights, among others.

    Barely a week later, the Pen Cinema flyover project  was also equally flagged off, with December 2018 set as delivery date.

    Afenifere spokesman Yinka Odumakin said Ambode’s era is fast becoming epochal. Lagos, he said, is fast being defined as before, and after Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

    “I said it back then in 2014 that if the price of oil should fall, only Lagos can comfortably pay salaries of its workers and I think that has been demonstrated by the state. This administration has leveraged on the comparative advantage of the state in terms of expanding the tax base to stay afloat,” Odumakin added.

    Oba Isiaka Balogun of Ketu praised the governor for the massive infrastructure projects, describing them as unprecedented.

     

  • More muscle for cargo train’s capacity

    More muscle for cargo train’s capacity

    The government’s readiness to inject 100 wagons and 60 locomotives into the Nigerian Railway Corporation’s rolling stock may signal unprecedented cargo train activities, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    About 100 wagons and 60 locomotives will soon be injected into the rail transport system to move cargo freights away from Apapa Ports.

    Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, who disclosed this last week, said this is to take traffic away from Apapa, (currently suffocating from traffic congestion caused by containerised trailers and petrol tankers) to Papalanto, a seedy part of Ogun State. The initiative, according to the Minister, is likely to take off next month.

    Amaechi said the new arrangement would reduce the logjam at Apapa. “The Ministry is worried by the huge man-hour wasted on the roads while trying to access the ports and we are determined to redress this. With effective rail transportation, from the ports to the hinterland, less pressure would be on the roads and the goods would get to their destinations safer and at less cost,”Amaechi said.

    What the Minister did not disclose was that the wagons and locomotives are part of General Electric’s (GE) commitment to run the nation’s narrow gauge.

    The General Electric is the government’s preferred bidder to manage the 3,505 km of 3 ft 6 narrow gauge network proposed for concessioning.

    While transaction advisors have been meeting with the Federal Government and the Corporation to tie all loose ends, GE seemed ready to get to work.

    The pre-concession agreement is for the concessionnaire to run the system for 12 months in the first instance, renewable upon successful execution. While this is expected to take off in January, the GE’s plan is to bring in the wagons and locomotives in readiness to taking over the business.

    Strategically, a virile rail service is the key to the pushing the nation as a strong and preferred destination in international maritime business.

    With a port, reputed to be the busiest in the West African sub-region, a reliable cargo rail service could be the key to unlock the wealth of several landlocked nations, which may find patronising Nigeria’s ports a refreshing difference from their hitherto partners like Ghana and Benin Republic.

    Locally, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said about 544 million tonnage of cargo were registered at the nation’s ports between 2013 and 2016. That implies that there is a huge unexploited market for the railway cargo freight.

    As at July 2016, the Nigerian Railway freighted only 3,200 tonnes of goods out of Apapa ports. That was a minute fraction, less than 0.01 per cent of the volume of cargoes waiting to be cleared from Apapa alone.

    With the nation’s narrow gauge split into two major trunks – the Western Line – Lagos-Kano-Lagos and Eastern Line – Port Harcourt – Maiduguri, and a siding from the Kano to Maradi in Niger Republic, the GE’s business outlay would be to capture this dormant segment and turn it into a huge profitable venture.

     

    Narrow gauge

     

    The narrow gauge, which is Nigeria’s most enduring colonial heritage (most of which was constructed in the first decade of 1900s), have served to cater for both passenger and cargo train traffic in the country.

    Nigerians recollection of the effectiveness of the railway is as rutted as the rail tracks. Most of the coaches and wagons, which were the Corporation’s pride in its golden era, had paled while from about 35 locomotives, the corporation’s operational locomotives, have fallen to about six with which it has continued to struggle to run its tracks.

    The concessionning idea was seeded in the 25-year reactivation masterplan of the NRC, the first phase of which aims to sustain government’s investments in refurbishing the rutted narrow tracks, refurbish the old coaches and wagons and rehabilitate the locomotives.

    The second phase is the modernisation phase, which set to refleet the rolling stock and embark on the building of new standard gauge system for the railway.

    The Buhari administration, within its first year in office, not only set about sourcing for the path of least cost to growing the old rolling stock with least cost, and chose the GE to drive that process while it concentrates on delivering on the standard gauge.

    The GE, according to a very top official within the NRC, would be heading a consortium of firms that would run the unbundled rail system. While a South African firm had been penciled down to lay and continue the regular maintenance of the narrow gauge tracks, another firm will also be managing the wagons’ ports operations, while yet another will be overseeing the ticketing and franchising of the train operations.

    Amaechi had at a forum admitted that the GE’s original plan was to provide cargo services on the nation’s narrow gauge. He added that part of the Transaction Advisors meeting was to see how the firm could also accommodate passenger traffic along with its core mandate.

    Paul Ndibe of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transportation (CILT) said the GE specifically set its target at the golden geese of rail business.

    According to him, all over the world, cargo freight is the cash cow of train services. With Nigeria’s position within the sub region and its special location and closeness to several landlocked countries, especially along East Africa, a virile and more stable rail network seemed to be the most profitable network waiting be explored.

     

    Workers’ fear

     

    Though workers of the Corporation have continued to expressed misgivings on the planned concessionning, they have, however, agreed to go along with the minister to drive the process.

    One of the gray areas, according to the Secretary-General of the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NURW), Segun Esan, remains the demand for a zero staff list by the GE.

    He said:“One of the GE’s major demands is for zero workers list. What that means is that all the workers should go. We are still negotiating with the government on how they would achieve this, but our demand is that no worker must be sacked in the Nigeria Railway Corporation without collecting his or her full entitlements.”

    Director of Operations, Mr Niyi Alli, has allayed workers’ fears regarding their jobs. “One of the reasons why there is a clause for a pre concessionning period in the agreement is that all the NRC workers would remain with the Corporation within the first year. After that, those who feel like continuing with the corporation are free to do so, while those who cannot will migrate to the new operator,” Alli said.

    A whole number of issues are expected to be ironed out within the first year of the concessionning arrangement. Outside workers welfare, the operational modalities of the unbundled corporation, which would now begin to function as a regulator would be firmed up.

     

    Sunny side

     

    But beyond the initial hiccups, Amaechi is looking at the sunny side of the huge impact of the concessionning arrangement on the nation’s transportation architecture.

    By merely providing a level playing ground for private sector involvement and investment in the sector, Nigeria, in the first instance, would be benefiting an additional 100 wagons and 60 locomotives without any direct injection of new funds by the government.

    This is expected to be increased as capacity becomes enhanced and demand for more cargo and passenger train traffic increases.

    Ultimately, by the time the standard gauge fully links all the state capitals as planned by the government, narrow gauge train service, it was learnt, would be exclusively reserved for cargo services running alongside the same standard gauge rail corridor.

    Alli said train cargo services are cheaper than motorised haulage. “Our survey has shown that train haulage is cheaper and safer,” he said.

    Businessmen, who have been accustomed to truck haulage, may have to try train haulage for a change soon. And hopefully, it would bring the needed respite to the overburdened roads.

     

  • Lafarge Africa invests N132m in truck driving school

    Lafarge Africa invests N132m in truck driving school

    In furtherance of its commitment to safety in its operations, Lafarge Africa Plc, is investing over N132m to train hundreds of truck drivers in the country.

    The initiative, which is the first of its kind in Nigeria, is part of Lafarge’s three-year strategic training plan to train 600 drivers over a three year period. Already, the first batch of 200 drivers have commemenced training at the firm’s driving institute in UniCem headoffice in Calabar, Cross River State.

    Lafarge Africa Director of Logistics, Bruno Hounkpati, revealed that the investment in training drivers represents the firm’s commitment to its driving institute aimed at modelling drivers’ behaviour and at the same time arming them with adequate training for truck driving.

    The ultimate goal, Hounkpati explained, is to contribute to safer roads.

    He added that such investment will further promote professionalism among truck drivers and create jobs with the firm’s third party transport companies.

    Head of the driving school, Osaze Aghatise, explained that one major way to reduce road related incidents and achieve his firm’s goal of zero harm, is to raise drivers’ standard of training in its operation and ensure that drivers think about safety first and always while on the road.

    “The right training will ensure that drivers think about safety first and always and this will ensure that our roads become safer because our truck drivers would be more conscious and responsible,”he said.

    This, according to him, requires the right training and coaching to understand the risks involved in performing a task to shape behaviour and develop safety processes.

    Under the initiative, selected trainees will go through an initial rigorous screening, thorough in-classroom training, state of the art driving simulation and on the road coaching and assessment. Aghatise said instructors with strong local and international experience and certification, have been carefully selected to ensure that trainees are taken through the highest standard of driver training.

    “Going forward, Lafarge contractors will only use drivers from the school,” he said.

    The driving school, he disclosed, is in partnership with Transport Services Limited, a fleet management company and the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC).

    Available data revealed that road transportation accounts for 90 percent of freight and passenger movement in the country and heavy goods vehicles, like trucks/trailers/articulated vehicles are the dominant means of haulage.

    According to data compiled by the FRSC in 2016, commercial vehicles accounted for 53.8 per cent of transportation in Nigeria. The data also showed that 8,876 commercial vehicles were involved in road accidents.

    Aghatise noted that most Nigerian truck drivers graduate from motor mates with inadequate and non-structured training, thereby making it difficult for them to adapt to the challenges of fleet operation and utilisation, safe driving behaviours, non-productivity and unemployable.

     

  • Traffic gridlock: Shifting focus to non-motorised option

    Despite its huge number  of pedestrians,  Lagos roads have remained almost exclusively motorised. But this may soon be over, as the government has unveiled a non-motorised transportation policy. writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    How can Lagos roads be more responsive to the needs of all segments of its  population? This is  the puzzle the government is set to resolve.

    Over the last 17 years, easing travel experience has been behind the government’s road reforms. The reforms have widened most of the roads, and ensured they are motorable. More inner roads have been constructed. But, until recently, the roads have been exclusively motorised, making it unsafe for other classes of users.

    The government plans to evolve a policy to share the road with other segments. Will Lagosians feel safe walking, or riding a bicycle on the congested  roads?

    Though nine million of its 25 million population use public transportation daily, Lagos has more residents walking. That’s why the government’s attention has shifted to making all modes of transportation work.

    At a stakeholders’ forum by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (LAMATA), last week, the government unveiled plans for a policy to promote safe Non-Motorised Transportation (NMT), the fourth mode of transportation.

    Helping LAMATA to develop the initiative is the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

     

    Why NMT

     

    Lagos is not the only state UNEP has helped to design an all-inclusive NMT masterplan. In 2011, it did same for Nairobi, Kenya’s capital and most populous city.

    Non-Motorised Transport, which involves walking and bicycle riding, has gained wide acceptance for its affordability. It is also environmentally safe, even if unpleasant and a dangerous mode of transportation.

    In a paper, The significance of non-motorised transport for developing countries: Strategies for policy development,” by Maurits Servaas, Project Leader for Interface for Cycling Expertise (I-CE), a Netherlands association, though NMT is associated with poverty, walking has become an important mode in an integrated transport system.

    Walking, he said, is beginning to play an increasing role, albeit usually as a convenient and non-polluting mode in multi-modal systems, for a number of high-income industrialised countries such as Netherlands.

    The case for Africa, in the report published in 2000, showed that while in Nairobi and Dar-es Salaam nearly half of trips are entirely made on foot, the remaining share of the travel is made on public transport.

    While walking is associated with poverty, the functions of bicycles differ widely between Africa and Asia. While in Africa, bicycle serves as a means of transport for goods and people, in Asia and Americas, cycling is essentially for recreation.

    His works were done in collaboration with the World Bank, which is concerned with ensuring the proper utilisation of the potential of non-motorised transport.

    In an online paper, Share the road: Prioritising non-motorised transport in developing countries, Sheila Watson, deputy director of Environment and Research at the FIA Foundation, a UK-based charity committed to promoting safe and sustainable mobility across the world, suggested a fully-integrative multi-modal transport system that must incorporate non-motorised transport. She said NMT appeared most suitable for short distance, while public transport or cars are suitable for long distance as it offers greater comfort and efficiency.

    According to Watson, the most- desirable and efficient modal mix depends on several factors, such as the pattern of land use, prices, travel needs, existing transport vehicles and infrastructure, among others.

    She canvassed that transport architecture must be planned around the people because they are the heartbeat of every city, adding that cycling has significant health and environmental benefits, and helps to reduce pollution and promote physical fitness.

    Unlike motorised road users, experts said pedestrians and cyclists are vulnerable.

    That’s why Watson insists on sharing the road. “There are strong indications” she said, “for the design of separate spaces for non-motorised transport. These spaces, in turn, must form part of an integrated mobility system that connects the users to mass transit options.”

    Studies showed that a uni-modal system such as that of a state like Lagos, often leads to sub-optimal situation, with too many private cars or even too many bicycles leading to congestion and a reduction in average speed, compared to multi-modal systems.

     

    Healthy

     

    The FIA Foundation which works with the UNEP, to help cities in developing countries to prioritise walking and cycling, said what kills NMT in most urbanised cities across the world is the vulnerability of the people.

    Though NMT has significant health and environmental benefits, yet in many cities across the world, pedestrian facilities have been poor and people aren’t safe crossing the roads, says the foundation.

    On the average, 80 percent of journeys in some African cities are made on foot. Watson said about 27 percent of the 1.3 million people who die on the road each year are pedestrians and cyclists.

    An assessment by International Roads Assessment Programme (iRAP) in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, also found that 95 percent of roads assessed had high pedestrian flows, yet only 20 percent had pedestrian footpaths.

    The Nairobi City County Government had developed a NMT Policy, which was launched in March, 2015, after identifying that 70 percent of the 723 road traffic fatalities in Nairobi in 2014 were pedestrians.

    The policy proposed a range of measures including lower road speeds, new infrastructure and traffic calming measures, as well as awareness raising activity, enforcement and financial commitments.

    The highlight of this policy is to ‘’create a system focused on people rather than vehicles.’’

    Another country which has introduced such policy is Mexico City, which introduced a Mobility Law in 2014.  The law introduced a mobility hierarchy, with pedestrians at the top, followed by cyclists and then mass public transit, with private motorised vehicles last.

    Nairobi’s NMT policy commits 20 percent of existing and future transport budget to walking, cycling and public transport infrastructure and services.

    However, other cities go further. Chennai in India has recently allocated 60 percent of the transport budget to constructing and maintaining NMT infrastructure. This is in line with its ambitious goals to achieve continuous footpaths on at least 80 percent of all streets.

    LAMATA’s ambition is to bring Lagos at par with this development, with a policy that aims at supporting walking and cycling.

    Just 10 percen of countries in Africa has policies to promote walking and cycling, against 64 percent in Europe. In Kenya, Share the Road’s work, with the Kenyan Urban Roads Authority, led to a policy change in 2011 which has integrated walking and cycling facilities on new urban road projects.

    Though the details of the NMT policy is still under wraps, LAMATA has left no one in doubt that it will incorporate walking and cycling into its new road projects.

    Opening the reconstructed Wempco Road, a few years back,  former Governor Babatunde Fashola indicated  that new roads would incorporate a bicycle lane and walk way.

    LAMATA said NMT remained one of the ways to make the roads more effective.

    At the event, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Transportation, Prince Anofiu Elegushi, said non-motorised transportation would contribute significantly to the state’s integrated multimodal public transportation system.

    He said: “Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has already taken the bold initiative to ensure the incorporation of cycling and pedestrian infrastructure in the development of roads in the state.

    “The provision of segregated traffic facilities such as bus stop laybys, walkways, footbridges, underpasses, zebra crossings and traffic system management signs at various high density locations in Lagos are to promote the safety of pedestrians. This, according to him, would be complemented by the provision of pathways for bicycles riders”, Elegushi added.

    He said the draft policy which would soon be passed into law by the state’s House of Assembly would empower the government and other stakeholders to access the huge benefits of a reduction in carbon emission and Green House Gasses (GHG) from motorised vehicles.

    LAMATA’s Managing Director Abiodun Dabiri said NMT was one of the main policy options and part of the institutional reforms that the state must implement to address traffic congestion and environmental pollution while ensuring public road safety.

    He said LAMATA’s conceived plan was within the framework of the Strategic Transport Master plan (STMP).

    Dabiri said the draft policy on NMT would aid the development of key infrastructure that would facilitate pedestrian movements and community integration within and across neighbourhoods in the megacity to complement the development of a true multi-modal transport system.

    The policy when passed into law, he said, will involve three levels — community integration through the creation of a continuous pedestrian network, connection of pedestrian network with main public transport corridors and accessibility to the main transportation hubs and interchanges of the city with significant passenger demand.

    He praised the ITDP and UNEP for their technical and financial support towards the provision of the draft policy, which was adopted by stakeholders at the conference.

    Dr. Taiwo Salaam, director of Transport Policy, Ministry of Transportation praised LAMATA and other stakeholders for their contribution towards the development of the draft policy.

    Salaam said NMT occupied a central place in the intermodal transport system of the state, adding that when it fully comes on stream, all roads would have walk and bicycle paths.

    “We are determined in Lagos State to begin to build roads that will cater to the needs of all classes of users. This will reduce traffic congestion and make the road safer for all,” Salaam said.

     

  • Right to life: Ember months’ new song

    Right to life: Ember months’ new song

    It is countdown to the end of the year and the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC) says it is carrying its right to life  campaign to all nooks and crannies of the country to make the roads safer, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE.

    The Federal Roads Safety Corps’ (FRSC) mandate appeared simple: To make the roads safe for all users.

    This is to burst a negative ranking that has been the norm for several decades. Nigerian road networks had ranked not only as among the most unsafe, but as one of the deadliest in the world.

    As at 2011, Nigeria was 191 out of 192 countries most prone to traffic accidents by the World Health Organisation (WHO) ranking.

    The WHO estimate stated that over 1.3 million people are killed annually in road accidents, while over 50 million people sustain different degrees of injuries from such crashes.

     

    Global Concern

     

    The global concern on the disturbing pattern of road accidents, led to the United Nations Decade of Action on Road Safety (UN-DOARS); as the UN clearly stated that if nothing was done, road accidents could rise by 65 per cent by 2015/2020, making it the most potent killer, higher than malaria and tuberculosis.

    Flagging off the domesticated UN policy that year, the then Corps Marshal, Osita Chidoka, had started a national enlightenment campaign, which was usually capped at the last quarter each year, and often tagged as the ‘Ember Months’ road safety campaigns, to draw attention to the needs for all road users, especially commercial bus operators and other private car drivers, to be more responsible on the roads.

    The campaign is tailored towards the end of the year because findings have shown that the roads are busier, as a result of the sharp increase in vehicular movement across the country. People are said to be moving away from the city centres scattered across the country to observe the yuletide festivities with their relatives in their various towns.

    These campaigns have recorded some success in accidents and fatalities reduction on the roads, such that within six years, the nation’s unenviable profile on road accidents have given way.

    Six years of aggressive enlightenment and advisory enforcement of several innovative interventions aimed at mitigating fatal crashes, have shown that Nigeria may sooner than 2020, exit the unviable ranking as one of the nations with the most unsafe road networks in the world.

    Listed among the causative factors of accidents are external, mechanical, and human factors. While issues such as bad road networks, inadequate reflective road signages are among the external factors; reckless driving, over speeding and drunk driving ranked high among human factors responsible for high rate of crashes.

    While the government tackles road rehabilitation and reconstruction, the FRSC has busied itself with addressing the mechanical/human element, which accounts for 70 per cent of the causes of the accidents with regular park-to-park advocacy and enlightenment to make all operators and other road users see how ensuring a safer road must be a shared responsibility.

    While commercial fleet bus owners are to ensure that their vehicles are road worthy before taking them to the parks to load passengers, the bus operators (drivers) must avoid anything that may alter their basic road judgments and lead to accidents. Essentially, while bus owners must take more than a passing interest in the electrical fittings (breaking, headlights, rear and trafficator lights), wipers, batteries, and tyres, good alignments, among others, the driver must avoid all alcohols and stimulants that might impair his concentration on the wheels, while passengers, as driver’s guidance on the journey, must be alert to report the driver’s actions and inactions on the wheel to his superiors at the park or on the road, force him to stop until the object of the common fear and threat to safe travel in the vehicle is addressed.

    To the FRSC, over 60 per cent of accidents recorded are traceable to human errors, not witches or wizards. If these errors are identified and isolated, achieving safety on the roads would be more readily realisable.

    The FRSC’s Corps Marshal Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, said 80 per cent of the accidents are as a result of avoidable errors.  According to him, trends have shown that accidents often doubled during the “Ember” months “not necessarily because of the actions of witches, but because cart pushers, motorcycle riders, pedestrians and vehicle owners fail to use the road responsibly”.

    “If the nation hopes to keep the roads safe,” he said, “all road users must not only embrace the best road safety practices, but be more responsible road users.”

    The FRSC, according to Oyeyemi, will continue to drive enforcement of road safety laws and standards and promote public awareness on the ills of doing otherwise.

    Oyeyemi, who described a drunk driver as an accident waiting to happen, said when taken above the recommended limits, alcohol impairs the driver’s sense of judgment. “A vehicle driver, operating under the influence of alcohol is prone to violate speed limits and commits fatal errors that might lead to fatal crash,”he said.

    Every year, Nigeria, according to Oyeyemi, has been recording remarkable reduction in its accident profile rate due to the deployment of a number of initiatives that are stakeholders’ driven.

    He said virtually all stakeholders on the road have given the Corps tremendous support in its determination for a paradigm shift in accident rate, which is making the nation saner.

    “A lot of lives have been wasted as a result of recklessness and avoidable errors by commercial operators. That is why every year, the Corps has continued to focus on them to ensure that as more people get into the system, they are taken through the basic requirements needed to be on the road and how to use the road more responsibly.

    Not only is the FRSC achieving results on its responsible drinking campaign by collaborating with two giant brewers the Nigeria Breweries Plc (which with their Don’t Drink and Drive campaign collaborates with the Corps’ headquarters), and Guinness Nigeria Plc’s “responsible drinking campaign”, has been partnering the Lagos Sector Command of the Corps to make the roads safer.

    During the ember months, these brewers collaborate with the corps to organise massive road shows and enlightenment campaigns at motor parks, where thousands of drivers are educated on how to use the roads and stay alive.

    Rolling out the theme of this year’s campaign, which is: “right to life on the highway is not negotiable”, Oyeyemi said just like last year’s theme: “crash the crash, kill the speed”, the corps would be all out to ensure that road users respect the rights of other users to life. “No one has the right to kill another person as a result of avoidable errors or recklessness. We would be going round the country not only to ensure strict compliance to all traffic laws and regulations and ensure that no one is above the law,”Oyeyemi said.

     

    Breathalyzers

     

    The Corps’ major breakthrough in curbing drunk driving was the acquisition of breathalysers/alcoholisers to carry out random tests on bus operators.

    Any driver whose Blood Alcoholic Concentrate (BAC) level is higher than the acceptable level would have his vehicle impounded and the journey aborted until such a time that he would be deemed fit to continue the journey.

    While the Corps Headquarters said it is still compiling the nationwide data  on the number of offenders caught via the alcoholisers, the Lagos Sector Commander Hyginus Omeje said though the sector has just two such equipment, provided by Guinness, no fewer than 20 drunk drivers are apprehended daily. He admitted the equipment has helped to bring sanity to the roads, especially in Lagos State. Though the fine for drunk driving is N5,000 by our statute, no one is allowed to proceed on any journey once he has been certified drunk until he become sober.

    The beauty of the breathalyzer is that it could take up to 1000 test samples per day and print evidence based test result that could be used either for counselling or prosecution of anyone whose alcoholic count is above acceptable limit.

    He said for the sector to be effective, it would need at least 12 breathalyzers to cover the whole state.

     

    SLD innovation

     

    Besides breathalyzers, by far the most innovative solution to reckless driving ever adopted by the Corps would seem to be the Speed Limiting Device (SLD) a mechanical device that helps to break down the speed of any vehicle on which it is installed.

    The SLD, which has been in use in Europe and US, made its inroad into Nigeria auto market in 2015, with the Corps, giving commercial vehicle operators till March 2017 to install the device, which is now readily available in several auto shops across the country.

    The SLD is the brainchild of the FRSC’s collaboration with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the National Automotive Council (NAC), which certified the right calibre of device useful to Nigeria, and approved the marketers from which the product could be obtained and installed.

    Though latest national compliance data on the SLD is still being collated, early data released as at first quarter of 2017 showed that compliance stood at a mere 5.11 per cent.

    Of the total 77,817 vehicles checked during the period, only 3, 980 vehicles were found to have installed the SLD, while 73,837 others haven’t.

    In the Lagos Sector where the third quarter data has been compiled with, the result is not any better. The data released by Omeje showed that less than two per cent of commercial vehicles randomly checked have installed the device.

    About 6007 vehicles were said to have been checked during the period. Out of these, only 1993 vehicles have the SLD on, while 4014 haven’t installed at all. 3822 vehicles were booked 192 cautioned, 1279 vehicles impounded and 7 ended up being prosecuted.

    But have these innovations made any useful impact on the accident patterns? Going by the Lagos Sector’s third quarter report, the impact has been remarkable. For instance, accidents on Lagos roads have gone down by 46.2 per cent, this quarter compared to same quarter last year – dropping from 106 to 57. Number of deaths from accidents also dropped to 14 from 45 (69 per cent), injuries from accidents fell from 221 to 93 (58 per cent), while number of those involved in accidents also fell to 392 from 842 (53.4 per cent).

    This means sanity is gradually being “unconsciously” driven into the driving culture of Nigerians. Though over speeding still remains a national malaise, the Corps said nothing would be spared to tame the monster this time.

     

    Other Initiatives

     

    Just as breathalyzers and SLD seemed to be the ace the Corps is determined to further harp on this Ember quarter, more initiatives  may be deployed. One of this would be the zero tolerance to none licenced drivers on the roads. Admitting the earlier glitches to the issuance and collection of driver’s licence across the country, the Corps said with all its production centres at work, it is illegal to drive on the roads without a valid driver’s licence.

    Oyeyemi, who observed that one’s driving stopped the day one’s licence expired, only last week directed all sector commanders to arrest and prosecute any driver, who fails to present a valid driver’s licence within 24 hours.

     

     

     

     

     

    Confirming the directive, Omeje said in Lagos alone 55,802 licences are yet to be collected. He said as part of the Ember months strategies, the sector will begin Operation show your licence at all the critical corridors where it presently operates.

     

     

     

    “Anyone we arrest must show his licence. If you don’t have it with you we impound your vehicle because you are not expected to drive without any licence. However if you can present it within 24 hours we will let you go, but after 24 hours, we will ticket you and you’ll not even ne able to drive until you either renew your licence or issued a new one,” Omeje added.

    Omeje believed if vehicles driven by unlicenced drivers are taken off the roads, the roads would be safer.

    Ahead of the ember months campaign, the state command, Omeje said would deploy about 1,500 personnel (regular marshals) and close to 3000 special marshals, 25 cars, and two ambulances along the critical corridors linking the state with other parts of the country with a view to ensuring smooth traffic and enforcing traffic rules and regulations.

    They would complement the Special Intervention Patrols (SIP) that would be deployed by the headquarters during the yuletide.

    Conclusion

    What is beyond doubt is the Corps’s commitment to reducing road carnage and this according to the Corps Marshal is a project that goes beyond Ember months. Oyeyemi, with these initiatives, especially the SLD, seems to be on the path to achieving the unthinkable. All the facts points to the fact that he is winning the war, Is he?

     

  • Railway still bogged by old problems

    Railway still bogged by old problems

    With much ground yet to be covered, meeting the December 2018 deadline for the delivery of the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line remains shaky, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    Fifteen months. That is what is  left for the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) to deliver the $1.5 billion Lagos – Ibadan Standard Gauge rail line.

    The project, which was flagged off by the Vice President,  Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (then as Acting President), on March 7, 2017, is Lot II of the railway modernisation contract for the Lagos- Kano standard gauge.

    The 184-kilometre standard gauge rail line is jointly funded by the Federal Government and the China Exim Bank. China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), a subsidiary of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), is the contractor.

    The proposed railway projects, which the Lagos-Ibadan speed train track laying is part of, will create over 500,000 jobs and aid movement of 3.2m tons of cargoes yearly, Prof Osinbajo had said.

    Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo performed the ground breaking of the Lagos-Kano standard gauge in 2006, without the work being done. That era  appeared to have gone forever, as the Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, assured of President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to delivering the project within his first term.

    “It is the intention of Mr. President to ride on the speed train and open same for commercial activity by December 2018,” Amaechi said at the inaugural meeting of the Project Implementation Steering Committee meeting in April.

    The committee, which comprises top officials of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, representatives of the Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states, the contractor and consultants, is headed by the Minister, who also insisted that the  committee holds its meeting monthly at the CCECC’s site office in Lagos.

    The task of achieving the Presidential Order, conveyed by Amaechi, fell on the CCECC’s chief project coordinator, Mr Leo Yin, who has but 457 days to achieve the feat.

    Can this be done? At the project’s implementation meeting, the seventh in the series last Tuesday, Yin said this would be possible only if other stakeholders cooperated.

    His enthusiasm sprang from the project’s pace, which, according to him, is in tandem with the Federal Ministry of Transportation’s work plan.

    Yin said the CCECC was committed to meeting the deadline for the delivery of project. But its speed would be impeded by the slow pace of others.

    He raised similar fears at the September meeting, where a number of challenges that might affect the timeline, were identified, and recommendations given. It does appear some of the challenges, like a sore thumb, are still festering. What are they?

    Challenges

    Rain, of course, is a major issue. This is because of the tropical terrain. According to the Chinese, the project has to pause to allow the rain to subside as much of the terrain appeared difficult to access due to unprecedented rise in water level on the right of way.

    But the more challenging, it would seem, remained securing the right the right of way itself. A large tranche of the right of way, particularly between Ogun and Oyo, is still unacquired.

    In most cases, no one has even been appointed by the governments of those states or their agencies to carry out requisite topographic survey, neither has any charting been done to achieve a secured right of way and compile appropriate data for compensation, if any.

    “Outside Lagos, the pace had at best been slow,” Yin confided in our correspondent. Outside its site office at Ebute Meta Junction, the only other place where a site office has been sited is Papalanto in Ogun State. The entire project is designed to have nine site offices.

    “We seem to have no problem between Km 0 – DK 55, (i.e. Ebute Meta to Papalanto) where approvals have been obtained and from DK 55 to DK 133, which is under consideration by the Ogun State government, where we seemed to have the bigger issue is from 133 to 184 where little or nothing seemed to have been done,” Yin said.

    While the twin issues of rain and right of way are being sorted, the contractor, however, said the company has been accelerating work on the casting of the concrete track slippers. CCECC, he revealed, will take delivery of 45,000 tons of rail tracks by month end, while actual laying of the tracks would begin by November. He stated that 3,000 tons would be needed for the Lagos-Ibadan lot.

    Within the Lagos metropolis, sundry impediments, such as inadequate height of flyover bridges, (which also affects the Ijoko flyover bridge under construction by the Ogun State government), inordinate numbers of road intersections and level crossings, and outright repositioning of several basic infrastructural facilities such as water mains and pipes, electricity and telecommunications ducts and cables, high tension cables, electricity substations, buildings and underground gas pipeline at Apapa, remain major impediments that may choke the deadline.

    Delayed answers

    Though Amaechi was unable to chair the October meeting, which held last Tuesday, he had, the month before, promised to alert the President to direct the NNPC on the urgent need to relocate the gas pipeline submerged by the lagoon to enable work on the Lagos end go unimpeded.

    Other stakeholders, Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states, who had never failed to attend the meeting, also agreed to expeditiously attend to their side of the challenges.

    For instance, at Ijoko, the Ogun State governor Sen. Ibikunle Amosun, and Amaechi agreed to permit government engineers work with the contractor to adopt the best design with the least cost to the flyover bridge.

    Similar considerations are on the card for the twin Costain bridges linking the mainland to Apapa, which are also to be affected by the design as the standard gauge heads to the ports.

    In September, Amaechi said: “We are confident the contractor would be able to deliver because back in their country, which has almost the same climatic condition like ours, they construct 1,500 kilometres of rail tracks yearly.”

    He said the government has fully paid N70 billion being its counterpart funding for the project takeoff, while the funds to meet other commitments have also been approved by the National Assembly.

    According to him, it is the first time the government would make funds available with a commitment to spend all at achieving the goal for which it was meant.

    “While previous government might have taken decades to deliver the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge, we are determined to achieve this within two years and committed to achieving the Lot III (Ibadan- Kano), in a year because 90 percent of the terrain is in the Sahel region, which records less rain,” he added.

    Beyond the government, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) said it is ready to assist the contractor meet its deadline.

    Its Managing Director, Mr Fidet  Okhiria said its demolition gang are primed to swing into action to clear the right of way of all impediments that might obstruct the project.

    While the CCECC blamed the stakeholders for slow pace, the Corporation equally blamed the contractor for its tardiness.

    Aside the skeletal work at Ebute Meta, Yaba and Agege, the other place where the contractor seemed to have worked was Papalanto, where it was constructing a site office for its site workers.

    “While we have gone ahead and demolished all illegal structures, within Lagos metropolis up to Ijoko, in Ogun State, the contractor pace within the metropolis has been slow. The result is that these structures are already springing up again in other forms. The contractor should speed up along the corridor, which the corporation had paved to prevent illegal squatters taking over again,” Okhiria said, while fielding questions on the impediments in September.

    Similar threats to the project again reared its head at the October meeting, last Tuesday, which the Corporation’s Chairman,Usman Abubakar, an engineer.  He presided at the meeting and assured that such threats would be frontally tackled.

    Abubakar assured that despite the hindrances created by access and right of way, the project would be delivered in December 2018 as planned.

    The board chairman also assured that a consultant is compiling the list of people whose structures would give way for the project.

    He said:”This is a routine meeting where we evaluate progress and attend to the challenges on this project, and I must say that from reports from the contractor, things are going fairly okay.”

    Vice President Osinbajo at the flag-off of the project had underscored the actualisation of the standard gauge as one of the core pillars of the government.

    “The modernisation of railway services is one that is very dear to the President because  it was part of his campaign promises,” Prof Osinbajo  had said.

    Underscoring this endearment, Amaechi also painted the picture that the President may develop a high blood pressure over any impediment that might derail its delivery.

    The problem is time. Would the remaining 457 days be enough to achieve a world class track? Would the other stakeholders, especially the state governments  join hands with a Federal Government, which seemed committed to deliver a speed rail to the South of Nigeria?

    Conclusion

    On the face of it, according to Amaechi, Lagos, Ogun and Oyo state governors have no choice as derailing the current pace would ordinarily pitch them against the people. Only time would tell if his assessment is right.

  • Boosting waterways transportation in Lagos

    Boosting waterways transportation in Lagos

     How can the waterways in Lagos be made safe and effectively utilised? These are the questions that begged for anwsers all through a stakeholders’ forum which set out to distill ideas on how to reposition the sector, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE.

    The Lagos State Government and stakeholders at a forum on the waterways agreed that the sector had, for far too long, been comatose.

    Since the Second Republic, when former Governor Lateef Kayode Jakande intoduced in the state the Baba Kekere and Ita Faji ferries, which brought a new lease of life to people in many riverine communities along the state’s coastline, especially around Mile 2 to Marina, Ipakodo and Ebute in Ikorodu. Lagosians are worried because the feat achieved by the state in the 80s was left to rot.

    From a sector that hit about three million passenger traffic yearly, up to the late 80s, the waterways traffic has dropped to about one million passenger per annum, with hardly any presence whatsoever in goods/cargo freighting.

    But Governor Akinwunmi Ambode seems set to play big in waterways transportation. With 54 percent of its mass covered by water, the state has a very strong comparative advantage.

    At the stakeholders forum last week, government sources said the governor is determined to replicate his imprint on the waterways, as he achieved appreciable success on the road.

    The need for the state to deepen its involvement in the waterways is not far-fetched.

    With a population put by the state’s Director of Transport Policy Dr Taiwo Salam, at 25 million, Lagos, arguably, is bigger than countries such as Ireland with a population of (4.773 million), New Zealand (4.693 million), or Australia (24.13 million), or some West African countries such as Togo (7.606 million) or Cote d’Ivoire (23.7 million), though tagging behind Ghana with a population of 28.21 million.

    However, while most of these countries have out-paced Lagos with robust and thriving inter-modal transportation, (road, air and water), Lagos is still tied to primordial ways with 95 percent of goods and passenger traffic relying on road.

    According to statistics from the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, (LAMATA), while the road element remains the heaviest and most popular means of transportation, waterways, despite its huge potential, accounts for about one percent passenger traffic in the state.

    The result is a gripping daily traffic congestion, which is gradually making travels on the state roads a nightmare. For instance, Apapa, a scenic area up till late 90s, has become a no-go area as because of traffic congestion that saw bumper-to-bumper parking of containerised trailers and petroleum tankers on every inch of roads in the area, also stretching from the Apapa ports up to Ikorodu Road.

    To relieve the roads, the other modes of transportation, especially the waterways, the government said, must work; and to work, the government must have effective control of the waterways. That was the message of Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA)  Managing Director Oluwadamilola Emmanuel.

    Emmanuel said the agency had been encumbered from generating appreciable revenue since a High Court impeded its sail in March, 2014, until the judgment was set aside in July, this year; a verdict that was validated by another Federal High Court last Friday.

    Emmanuel said the forum was to drum stakeholders support for a “safe, clean and prosperous waterways.

    According to the LASWA chief, government is not interested in driving any operator out of business. But all operators must continue to support it and join hands with it to build a virile sector.

    “LASWA as the inland waterways regulator for Lagos State would continue its role of ensuring safety and the enforcement of the various initiatives and interventions of the government on the waterways, despite its not been able to generate substantial revenue due to court injunctions,” he said.

    Emmanuel might just have taken the sail off the wings of many stakeholders, who had besieged the forum, believing the government was bent on driving them out of business.

    “Whatever the government wanted to do, let it come with a human face as these operators are responsible members of the society and have been contributing to the development of the state in their own ways,” a boat operator, High Chief Wellington Ilori-Ajigbulu, said.

    Ilori-Ajigbulu was responding to hints by Emmanuel that the agency would soon embark on an inspection of boats, canoes and ferries operating on the waterways.

    “There are minimum standards that we would not compromise. If you must operate on our waterways, you must comply by having lighting systems, have enough life jackets for your passengers, have a functional and water worthy (as against road worthy) vessels and have enough operators to handle your operations.”

    He said the agency would not overlook any operator’s infractions; “If your boat is not fit, we would not hesitate to take you off the waterways so that you don’t endanger the lives of other Lagosians. Government is sick of accidents that occur on our waterways as a result of preventable hazards.”

    Emmanuel insisted operators must raise their standards and new entrants must maintain the established standards, as the government wanted a sustainable development of its waterways.

    Admitting that the sector is ever changing, Emmanuel said the onus was on operators to join hands with the government, which would continuously work towards creating the right environment for operators to thrive and flourish, while operators should support by paying requisite dues and fees to the state government.

    LASWA, he said, has begun regularisation to capture the database of operators on the waterways.

    “Stakeholders should come to us, we need all your data, it is not only about money, we want to engage you to move the water sector forward. We implore you to come and regularise your membership,” he said.

    The Director-General, Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr Hakeem Dickson, urged operators to register their boats with the government.

    He said boats operating would be given number plates. “Any operator without a number plate is illegal and should be taken off the waterways.”

    He observed that plate numbers would help promote safety on water as boats could be tracked easily, and also assist in reducing the challenges encountered in securing insurance for their operations. He disclosed that discussions were ongoing about its introduction.

    He also appealed to boat and ferry operators to ensure that their passengers wear life jacket and shun overloading to avoid accident on the waterways.

    General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Adesina Tiamiyu, said the agency had been well equipped to combat emergency anywhere in the state.

    Harping on the need for stakeholders to embrace safety standard, Tiamiyu said with two Jet skis and a marine unit established by LASEMA, the emergency responder is prepared to be more engaged in emergency activities even on the waterways.

    The LASEMA chief urged operators and passengers using the waterways to be safety conscious and arm themselves with the emergency numbers 112 and 767, in case of any mishap on the water or off it.

    Chairman, Lagos State Ferry Services, Paul Kalejaiye stated that government’s commitment to developing the waterways was irreversible, as it remained the only way to “move the state from a mega city to a smart city.”

    He criticised the National Inland Waterways (NIWA), for contesting a court judgment ruling which was in Lagos’ favour with the state government, just because of the money it wanted to generate rather than being conscious of the safety of operators and the passengers.

    Kalejaiye said for effective ferry service in the state’s waterways, at least 1,000 ferries were needed to convey passengers to and from their destinations across the state.

    Though admitting that government has no business being in business, Kalejaiye however said government would be investing in the purchase of modern ferries in order to set standard for all operators wishing to operate ferry services in the state.

    Though the government had in the interim imported four such ferries, it, is however looking inwards especially to the establishment of a boat manufacturing firm at Epe, where according to him a large tranche of land had been acquired by the government and work would start in earnest.

    “The state government thinking forward is already envisaging a thriving industry and has acquired a large parcel of land at Epe for the building of boats, barges and ferries for local use.”

    Chairman of boat operators in the state Mr Ganiu Tarzan commended the government for coming up with plans to build boats locally. He said local producers abound in Ajegunnle, Epe and Ikorodu, that can produce fibre vessels and boats, adding that such industry would drive more participation in the water transportation sector.

    Tarzan said: “You can imagine if boats and ferries are produced locally. A huge economy can be jumpstarted as all coastline states would begin to look towards Lagos to purchase sea worthy boats. Again, you conserve foreign exchange and crash the soaring cost of acquiring good boats. Right now, one sea faring boat with good engines could cost between N5 to N8 million. I bought one for N10 million. All this could be brought down with government coming up with plans to support operators who can form cooperative society with loans.”

    Kalejaiye said the boat building initiative is just one of the several initiatives of the government to stimulate the sector. He said government has identified 13 water routes, seven of which are being dredged while channelization is also ongoing on others.

    Government, according to the Lagsferry boss, may acquire more water hyacinth machines to combat the menace across the state, even as he disclosed that government is building several jetties and interchanges in its bid to make water transportation lucrative and attractive. To encourage night travels on the water, government, he added would soon embark on lighting up the routes.

    He said the government would concession the running of some of the routes to private operators even as LagsFerry which would soon move its head office back to Mile 2, would continue to be the regulator of all equipments on its waterways to ensure the safety of all operators, goods and passengers.

    Kalejaiye is confident that Lagosians haven’t seen anything yet on water transportation.

    Only time would tell if these interventions would bolster a people’s sagging confidence in a sector made unsafe in recent time by avoidable fatalities.

  • Commercial chauffeur service makes its debut

    Commercial chauffeur service makes its debut

    A 24-hr chauffeur service has made its debut on the nation’s transportation landscape, especially in Lagos.

    Powered by Clarakins Investment Limited, a transport logistics company, WeDrive is available to prospective users at a tap on an android phone, or through a website.

    WeDrive gives clients access to professional drivers on a temporary basis.

    A prospective client can request for a driver for a particular number of hours or daily. The App automatically allocates a driver to an intending client. The client receives the driver’s name, photograph and phone number while the driver will receive the client’s pick-up location and time.

    Clarakins Chief Executive Officer Mr. Akinbolaji Akintoye said the concept was borne out of the demand by clients for professional, experienced drivers who provide Chauffeur services temporarily. This way the client only pays for a driver when one is actually needed. This is expected to replace the practice of paying a driver full-time when he would only be actively engaged for less than 20 percent of the time.

    According to him, WeDrive clients cover an entire spectrum; ranging from those who can’t drive, are unable to drive, will rather not drive or are otherwise engaged. These include working professionals, the elderly, the infirm, long distance travellers and revellers.

    WeDrive, a 24-hr driver service as opposed to a taxi service, utilises the client’s own vehicle with the customer only paying for the hours of service requested.

    A major advantage of a driver service over a taxi service is the convenience of having a driver that can drive you to multiple destinations in the comfort of your vehicle, without the limitation of distance, provided it is within the requested hours the client booked for.

    In developing this innovative concept, Clarakins understands that there may be some initial reluctance  because of the fear of not knowing the driver. To ensure the customer’s peace of mind, Clarakins did extensive due diligence on the drivers registered on the platform as well as their guarantors.

    “We understand the client is not giving the keys to the driver, they are giving it to Clarakins”, explained Akintoye.

    “WeDrive has about 100 trained drivers but we are recruiting more daily to ensure a seamless operations as the platform has the capacity for 2,000 drivers. Each driver is subjected to rigorous screening including, but not limited to, comprehensive driving tests, physical examinations (blood pressure, vision and so on), driver address visitation and guarantor verification. Regular psychological evaluations will also be carried out to ascertain the driver’s state of mind.

    The WeDrive platform was designed for simplicity and flexibility. Akintoye further explains: “WeDrive provides both Intra-state (within Lagos) and Inter-state services. The charge for service within Lagos are time based and flexible offering 6 hours or a full day (18 hours) between 6am and 9pm each day as well as an overnight driving service for revellers from 9pm to 6am. The Inter-state service provides drivers willing to drive you to over 300 destinations all over Nigeria and charges are based on the destination and can either be one-way or return. One-way service means the driver will only convey the client from the pick-up address to the stated destination, using public transport to get to the client or back to base as required. Return service means the driver will take the client to their destination, stay the required number of days then return the client back to base.

    The WeDrive platform provides a photograph of the allocated driver to each client to ensure accurate recognition, real-time tracking and an easy-to- use panic button (in the unlikely event of an emergency).

    Other features on the WeDrive service include uniformed drivers and ample 3 rd party insurance which means that the customers vehicle is fully insured against damage due to road accidents while being operated by a WeDrive driver. The service has also been formally introduced to the Nigeria Police force to ensure rapid recognition and assistance to any WeDrive driver or customer under the service.

    The drivers are trained to display proper etiquette, discretion, courtesy and a safety-first mindset. They are mandated to not exceed the speed limit irrespective of the clients wishes and also render many add-on services like cleaning and checking the vehicle.

    Akintoye explained that the ordering process safeguards the identity of the client by providing only the pickup address and time to the driver. On the contrary, the client would be provided all the details of the allocated driver including name, phone number and photograph in WeDrive uniform. This is just part of the measures implemented to guarantee the client security.

    Although the platform emphasizes value for the customers, the drivers are also well compensated compared to industry standards and have flexible working hours. “My father’s driver was a part of our family such that we attended most of his family social functions. This made me always have respect and a soft spot for drivers. With the way this economy is, we decided to do this concept to satisfy this demand and also help drivers. A happy driver means a happy customer” Akintoye said.

    Although the current “WeDrive hub is Lagos, the firm hopes to have a solid presence across the country within 5 years. But for now, the 300+ destinations on the WeDrive app is a step in the right direction.

     

  • FRSC: Only 40% commercial vehicles has speed limiter

    FRSC: Only 40% commercial vehicles has speed limiter

    Only 40.5 percent compliance has been recorded nationwide since the full enforcement of installation of the speed limiting devices by commercial vehicles started on February 1, this year, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), has said.

    FRSC Corps Marshall Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, who made this known in Lagos, at the joint briefing to flag off this year’s Don’t Drink and Drive Campaign (DD&DC) with the Nigerian Breweries Plc, said of 165,040 commercial vehicles stopped for routine checks, only 66,774 (representing 40.5 percent), have complied by installing the device.

    Oyeyemi, who was represented by the Corps Commander and Head of Public Education Office Mr Bisi Kazeem, disclosed that the figure as at September 20, this year, showed that within the same period, 56,214 (34.1 per cent) commercial vehicles were cautioned and advised to install the device in their vehicles, while 494 motorists were arraigned before mobile courts for non-compliance, while 19,602 vehicles were impounded.

    Oyeyemi appealed to vehicle owners to install the device on their vehicles as part of measures to reverse the trend of speed-related road crashes in the country.

    Besides over speeding, which speed limiting device can help curb, the Corps Marshall said the Corps have also identified vices such as traffic light violation, route violation, use of phone while driving and reckless driving as most prevalent among causative factors of road accidents.

    To reverse the trend, the Corps introduced a special intervention patrol code named “Operation Cobra”, which entails the arrest and prosecution of motorists found culpable of traffic regulation violation, some of whom were issued referral notes for phychological evaluation to ascertain their mental status as at the time the offence was committed.

    He disclosed that from June when the initiative started till date, 2,360 traffic offenders have been arrested, while 2,143 were referred to various hospitals for psychological evaluation.

    “This operation which we flagged off in Abuja has recorded a huge success as the feedback has shown that the act of being referred to hospitals for psychological or mental check up is driving sanity on the roads”, Oyeyemi stated.

    While addressing complaints arising from delayed driver’s licence, Oyeyemi said it is worrisome that most applicants still go about with temporary licences after several months if capture at the varios drivers’ licence centres, disclosing that licences were regularly printed and dispatched from the FRSC print farm.

    He however urged applicants facing similar challenges to text their licence numbers to 08150654567, and 08058298826, to get the status of their drivers’ licences or call the numbers to ascertain where to pick such up.

    Oyeyemi assured that the Corps is commuted to entrenching safety on the nation’s highways through the Don’t Drink and Drive campaign.

    This year’s campaign theme “Right to life, not negotiable”, according to Oyeyemi is to further underscore the fact that reducing road crashes is a shared responsibility.

    He praised the Nigerian Breweries for sustaining the campaign in the last 10 years, adding that alcohol related crashes remains a major global issue which has taken the front burner over the years across the world.

    He Said: “We should note that alcohol when taken above recommended basic limits reduces our sense of judgement as a vehicle driver and often results to speed limit violation for a driver who is driving under the influence of alcohol.”

    He said speed limit violation is related to drunk driving when a driver iis driving beyond the specified alcohol limit, the tendency is for him to accelerate above recommended speed limits.

    NB Managing Director Mr Johan Doyer disclosed that the initiative which was 10 years old, this year, has been taken to 39 cities an towns across the country and has directly benefitted 16,000 drivers and other road users, with higher numbers of people impacted through mass media messages.

     

     

    “Our research and evaluation has shown that there is a growing level of awareness against the dangers of drink driving among drivers, We have recorded some behavioural changes among drivers in the last 10 years”, Doyer said.

    As part of the 10th anniversary, NB plans to hold mega rallies that will involve the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, Petroleum Tanker Drivers, luxury bus drivers, keke and okada riders, non government organisations focussing on the transport sector among others.

    Doyer who was represented by the Corporate Affairs Adviser, Nigerian Breweries Plc Mt Kufre Ekanem said this year’s campaign would be taken to three cities – Lagos, Federal Capital Territory and Enugu. He said the NB Plc is committed to the promotion of safety on the roads.

  • Wanted: People-centred transportation policy

    Wanted: People-centred transportation policy

    Governments across the world commit huge funds yearly to ensure a functional transportation system. Governments, both at the centre and states, must begin to toe the same path if they must be taken serious about growing the economy, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    With Nigerian population almost hitting 200 million, road transportation system (vehicular), according to experts, remains the most rustic and rudimentary in the world.

    Major economies, unlike Nigeria, have continued to provide cheaper alternatives and expand transportation infrastructure in order to relieve the masses of transportation costs, and provide other modes like waterways, railway and air.

    While the United States (US) President Donald Trump is spending $1 trillion on infrastructure this year,  mainly on railways, roads and waterways, China has announced about $2 trillion to “expand and improve its railroads and highways.” Nigeria’s spending in the same period is N262 billion, a marginal increase from N202 billion in 2016. In Japan, about $100 billion would be spent to rehabilitate and expand existing railroads and freeways in 15 months.

    According to a report published at www.chinamoneynetwork, China, the world’s second largest economy, will spend $2.17 trillion on transportation and infrastructure projects, including high speed rail and roads during the 13th Five-Year Plan between 2016 and 2020.

    A detailed plan by the country’s Minister of Transport, Li Xiaopeng, in the report, said the RMB15 trillion investment would include RMB3.5 trillion ($510 billion) for railways, RMB7.8 trillion ($1.13 trillion) for roads, RMB650 billion ($94 billion) for civil aviation and RMB500 billion ($72 billion) for water transportation.

    According to the plan, a total of RMB800 billion ($116 billion) will be earmarked for railways this year, RMB1.65 trillion ($240 billion) for roads, and RMB150 billion ($21 billion) for water transport.

    While the quantum of railroads to connect all state capitals being proposed by the government is a little above 5,000 kilometres, China plans to have 150,000 kilometres of railway lines, five million kilometres of roads, 260 airports and 2,527 berths for vessels over 10,000 tonnes by the year 2020. This is in addition to high speed railway network to be expanded to 30,000 kilometres during the same time period, connecting more than 80 per cent of Chinese cities to service her over one billion population.

    Last year, China invested RMB2.844 trillion ($410 billion) in transportation system, growing its yearly spend for the sector by 3.8 per cent year-on-year.

    “About 113,000 kilometres of roads, eight airports, and 292,000 kilometres of rural roads were built last year,” Li explained.

    Nigeria’s lean and “unenviable” spending, which is mainly on railroads, this year, would ultimately, as an expert said over the weekend, leave the country with “a frozen economy”.

    Earlier in the year, the Ministry of Works said about N20 trillion would be needed to bring the nation’s road infrastructure at par with global standards.

    For experts, a nexus exists between transportation and the economy. According to them, to move the economy, you need to fix transportation.

    The way to go, they said, is a properly planned public transportation system. “There is the need to open up the transportation system, expand the infrastructure base and target the masses, who need one form of public transportation or the other to move every day,” Dr. Oladayo Timothy said.

    To Planet Project’s Managing Director, Mr. Biodun Otunola, the golden key to unlocking the comatose economy lies in transportation.

    Giving an insight, he said: “Fifty-one million people use one form of public transportation or the other all over the country daily. Even if they spend N100 per trip, about N51 billion is spent by them daily on transportation. That amounts to N1.53 trillion monthly.

    “In the same margin, nine million of the 20 million population in Lagos State use public transportation daily. If they pay just N100 per trip, about N9 billion exchange hands daily within the state’s economy. That is about N270 billion monthly.”

    The huge revenue generated either nationally or by the state, according to Otunola, goes into private hands, as the sector remains unregulated and grossly underfunded.

    Describing transportation as “a leveller between the rich and the poor,” and an infrastructure that cannot be provided by a single individual, Otunola, whose firm is helping Lagos State to troubleshoot its transportation and urban renewal challenges, said the answer lies in the government focussing on providing “safe, convenient, comfortable and affordable” mass transportation alternatives.

    “The road is where the rich and the poor meet. Both are usually held in the traffic congestion. The future, therefore, is not in the provision of “free education or free health”, both of which could be provided by private sector operators, but in providing innovative solutions to traffic congestions, which is the challenge facing modern day governance across the world.

    “The difference is that while developed countries governments continue to fund transportation because they cannot afford the economy to crash, here, governments continue to ignore the masses as a critical element in planning transportation programmes despite the growing challenges of urbanisation,”he said.

    Roads, according to Otunola, are built as if only the rich will use them, (without lay-bys), and no support infrastructure to promote public transportation. “When the roads are finished, half of them would be taken over for parking and the other half becomes congested due to the sheer number of vehicles and lane indiscipline.

    “The roads are taken over by groups collecting monies without ploughing back any of the proceeds on the roads.”

     

    Transport cost

    Logistics experts held that an average Nigerian spends about 70 per cent of his wages on transportation. This is against the grain in developed countries and states where the government provides comfortable and affordable means of transportation for the masses.

    “This, they said, is the basis of poverty and low purchasing power in the economy.” According to them, the narrative must change to experience a boom.

    While the average Nigerian spends about N600 to N800 on transportation daily, an average American family, according to a report: “Transportation Costs and the American Dream”, spent in 2001, 19.3¢, about 19 per cent of every earned dollar on transportation.

    In the United Kingdom (UK), similar trend exists, with an average Briton spending only 15 per cent of his or her income on transportation daily.

    Across the world, public transportation expenditure ranges between six  and 20 per cent, with the average household’s budget divided between intra-city and inter-city travels.

    Intra-city mode, which forms about 22 per cent of  most travels, includes mass transit, taxis, limousine service and school bus, while inter-city transportation mode, which forms 78 per cent of the travels, uses modes that include air, bus, train, and ship.

    Nigeria remains one of the countries with the highest cost of transportation per household, and one with the most basic and elementary form of transportation in the world.

    The solution, according to experts, is for the government to begin to invest in the sector.

     

    The Lagos Example

    Otunola said other states will soon  begin to take more than passing interest in designing transportation solutions to traffic congestions in their states when they begin to see what and how states like Lagos are transforming the transportation system.

    He said no fewer than 10 iconic bus terminals would spring up across the state in the next 16 months, to redefine the state public transportation culture.

    Otunola, whose firm, Planet Projects executed the flagship project, Ikeja Bus Terminal, said before March, three of such iconic structures would spring up around Berger, Agege and NAHCO on the International Airport Road.

    Also on the card, are the Oshodi terminals and interchange, Maryland, Abule Egba, Idumota, Obalende, among others.

    The Ikeja Bus Terminal, according to him, would pilot the bus reform initiative of the Akinwunmi Ambode administration, which the government had disclosed would be flagged off by February.

    “When it finally rolls out, the average Lagosians, who hitherto have been consigned to contraptions called Yellow buses, would for the first time be treated like human beings, and begin to use more comfortable buses that rank among the best in the world.”

    Lagos is leading the pack in giving the pride of place to the average Nigerians to provide a comfortable public transportation for the people.

    “I will shed tears of joy, the day the governor finally opens this facility and the average masses troop in here to board modern buses provided by the state. It would be the culmination of my dream to change the narratives of transportation not only in Lagos, but in Nigeria,” the Planet Projects chief stated.

    He said 850 such buses have been ordered and would be delivered before the end of the year. When this takes off, the yellow buses would be taken off the entire Ikeja environ.

    Otunola said about 50,000 passengers are expected to use the Ikeja bus terminal daily, with about 100 buses running the intracity shuttle.

    The terminal, a storey facility, with well laid out laybys for buses, among others, have on its ground floor ultra modern air conditioned ticketing and ATM gallery, while on the first floor, are foods courts, mall, and office spaces. “Provision was also made on its fore ground for people, who want to have selfie photo shots,” Otunola disclosed.

    The terminal, it was gathered, would create about 500 new jobs and hundreds of other secondary jobs once it gets off the ground.

    “Such initiatives ought to be copied by governments interested in designing people-friendly transportation service,” Mr, Patrick Adenusi, founder of Safety without Borders, a non-governmental organisation engaged in transportation and logistics advocacy, said.

    He continued:”Lagos State has showed the way to go, it is time for other states to follow suit and begin to address issues relating to traffic congestion in their various states, by providing cheaper and more comfortable alternatives means of transportation for the average commuters.

    “Nigerians deserved to be better treated. Governments must begin to see and treat Nigerians with dignity and respect and provide transportation systems that meet such estimation. That is the time Nigerians would begin to see the real dividends of good governance,” he noted.

     

    Conclusion

    Lagos, perhaps like Adenusi said, may be way ahead of others in proving that the seed of its economic transformation lies in a more modern transportation system.