Exorcising The Demon That Is Lagos Traffic

The Lagos State Government Monday announced drastic measures in the bid to ease the chaotic gridlock that characterises West Africa’s most populous city. Those measures included the outright ban on the operations of commercial motorcycles and tricycles in six local governments in Lagos city.

The chaotic nature of the transportation system has been a source of concern to many people and has defied lasting solutions for more than three decades.

In most cases, people leave home as early as 3:00 a.m. so as to beat traffic and get home as late as the middle of the night. For people with children, they have little time to tend to their children. This failure in parental nurturing for children is a case that might be difficult to handle especially when it comes to lack of social values.

However, people need to survive, clothing, feeding, and housing are top charts in the paradigm of human needs. Hence, people need to transport themselves to their various workspace.

It is imperative to mention that people spend quality time in traffic. There are people who leave their houses on Mondays, stay close to their workplaces to return to their houses on Friday.

A survey done by SB Morgen has some solutions suggested by Lagosians regarding the issues above and they are below:

First, it is important that the government fix the roads, you are left to wonder why a journey of 20 minutes will take over an hour because the government has failed in doing the necessities.

The movement does not necessarily have to be restricted to the road; other avenues for transporting people need to be looked into. There are diverse means of transportation that are viable, these include; rail (which has been in plan for years now) and ferries. Fortunately, the state is on course to have an operational intra-city train service in a couple of years. How that will ease the gridlock is left to be seen.

And while there are ferry services in place, the level of patronage is still very low. Why?

The state of the ferries is quite bad and makes it difficult for people to opt for this option. There should be an upgrade in the means of water transport. Up to Par ferries should be provided in large quantities.

Let’s not forget people need to be sensitised about this means of transport. The state of the nations’ transport system is enough to put the question of quality in people’s mind, hence, people should be informed about how safe this means of transport is for them.

Exorcising the demon that is Lagos traffic needs to happen fast. People spending quality time in their offices rather than on-road in back-breaking journies will lead to optimisation of their functions at work. What this means for productivity and economic growth is obvious.