DR SOLA OMOJU
Santorini is a small-town set on a hill. One of the wonderful experiences in Santorini is to climb the steps to the city center rather than using the traditional horses or the cable cars.
To do this, you must be physically fit and mentally strong. There are 588 steps, and the way up is very steep. As I climbed those steps panting, I was equally competing with horses carrying people up the hill. I also stopped regularly to enjoy the views as the cable cars were airlifting people to the proverbial city set on a hill.
At a time, I felt I would not make it to the town because I was extremely exhausted, but I kept hearing the voice of my motivational speaker, you can do it !, it says.
As I set my foot on the last set of stairs, I couldn’t help but conclude that it only takes a little planning to make a major city. For example, give people transportation options. I had the option to use cable cars and horses, I only opted to use the stairs. In Nigeria, we practically have only one means of transportation, Cars and vehicles. This is one of the major obstacles to our development.
I have used the metro system in almost all the major cities of the world, from New York to Tokyo to Hong Kong to Beijing, to Moscow and many more, one of my favorite activities is to wander about using the metro systems in different cities. I love to get lost, miss my station, find my way back and get lost again. One of the hallmarks of major developed cities all over the world is the sophistication of their public transportation system. If Nigeria will ever come out of the woods, other states will need to start copying the templates of development in Lagos state. Lagos seems to have a very robust idea of what a megacity
should look like, they are only struggling with the implementation of those ideas.
Nevertheless, whatever progress Nigeria will make in the nearest future will ultimately depend on how far Lagos can effectively carry out its lofty developmental plans.
Around seventeen years ago, President Obasanjo sold our moribund refineries to a consortium led by Dangote and Otedola. They paid close to a billion dollar for the two refineries. President Yaardua cancelled the sale and even returned the money.
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Many myopic Nigerians hailed him that he was incorruptible. Almost two decades later, those refineries never produced a gallon of petrol. Imagine if the consortium had started refining petrol from those refineries over a decade ago, just think about the catalyst effect it would have had on the economy. We would not need naira to import fuel for more than a decade, Naira would not be under pressure, and we would have had a lot of money for infrastructural development during the Jonathan’s era oil boom.
Who came to the rescue of the oil situation almost two decades later? DANGOTE and LAGOS STATE. Two decades wasted. Naira almost irreparably damaged. Lagos came to the rescue with the Tinubu’s inspired free trade zone providing a massive land and the needed business environment for Dangote to build a world class refinery from the scratch, when he could have repaired our moribund refineries decades ago.
While it seems everything is chaotic with the fuel situation, I am so excited about the future. With Dangote’s refinery, we can effectively solve the corruption problem around fuel subsidy. Many people are saying HOW? Dangote said they are installing a tracker to monitor the destination of every liter of petrol
loaded from the refinery.
This is a major game changer. The federal government must insist on this as a pre-condition for selling crude to Dangote. As at today, almost half of the fuel we import with our hard-earned dollars are being shipped to neighboring countries to sell in the black market. If the fuel is tracked by Dangote, we can properly track our daily consumption and even if we must pay to subsidize the fuel, it will be very minimal and will be paid in Naira.
Over a decade ago, Lagos also conceived the idea of BRT Lanes to decongest the traffic on the road. In retrospect, I think those lanes would have been dedicated to intra-city trains instead. If you have ever been to Istanbul, you would see that on every major road, a small portion is dedicated to city trains just like the BRT lane. The difference is that while you may be on the BRT lane for hours without a single bus in sight, the train in Istanbul comes at regular intervals. What is the purpose of a BRT lane when there are no buses to ply those routes? Lagos had the idea, but the implementation is poor. I am so delighted that Sanwo Olu’s government is awake again, building extensive rail networks in Lagos state. I am only
wondering what other states are waiting for. One of the ways to reduce energy consumption is to build extensive public transportation especially rail networks.
Give people alternatives like I had in Santorini. Divert away from excessive consumption of fuel and use the money saved to further enhance the public transportation system. When it is well developed, restrict the number of cars in all the CBDs using plate number codes. That way, people will be forced to leave the cars behind at home and use the public transportation system.
In London, around 5 million people use the metro lines daily. Imagine that we can get one million people to leave their cars at home and ride the Lagos metro. Fuel consumption will be reduced, less traffic on the road, less damage to the roads and affordable accommodations because people can now live in Ibadan and commute to work in Lagos. I am still of the opinion that the BRT lanes should also be converted to Rail lines. Using Istanbul as a case study, those dedicated lanes are more than enough to build another
extensive rail line in Lagos.
Lagos is the only state that seems to have a good idea of what a city should look like even though the state is finding it difficult to implement the goals. The city is still very far from achieving the goal of a megacity, but it is the only one struggling to get there. If your state governor is not coming to Lagos for tutorial, you may need a new governor by 2027 if you don’t want your city to be left behind.