Get Guardian on GoogleLAMATA, firm accelerates green transit with arrival of 11 new electric buses
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has urged religious leaders across the state to make road safety and responsible motoring regular themes in their sermons and congregational teachings to reduce road crashes and save lives.
The agency said religious institutions could play a significant role in changing motorists’ attitudes and promoting compliance with traffic regulations through their influence on congregations and communities.
The General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, made the appeal during the investiture, rebranding and induction of more than 100 LASTMA Mayors (volunteers), an initiative aimed at strengthening the agency’s grassroots engagement and supporting traffic management operations before, during and after the forthcoming Yuletide festivities.
Bakare-Oki said religious leaders, given their moral authority and wide reach, could complement government efforts to tackle traffic violations, protect pedestrians and promote responsible behaviour among road users.
He urged Christian and Muslim clerics, as well as other religious leaders, to incorporate road safety messages into Friday Jumu’ah prayers, Sunday services, fellowship meetings, youth gatherings and other religious activities.
He specifically called on them to caution their followers against speeding, reckless driving, dangerous overtaking, driving under the influence of alcohol or intoxicating substances, distracted driving, indiscriminate parking and disobedience to traffic regulations.
According to him, respect for human life, which is central to religious teachings, should also reflect in the way motorists conduct themselves on the roads.
He noted that reckless driving and deliberate disregard for traffic rules were not merely legal offences but acts of irresponsibility that could lead to avoidable deaths, injuries and hardship for families.
The LASTMA boss stressed that the government alone could not guarantee safer roads without the active involvement of religious institutions, market associations, transport unions, community development associations and civil society organisations.
He urged religious leaders to use their communication networks and community outreach programmes to educate their followers on speed limits, compulsory seat-belt use, the dangers of driving against traffic, obedience to traffic signals, pedestrian rights and regular vehicle maintenance.
Bakare-Oki also encouraged motorists and other road users to make greater use of LASTMA’s toll-free short code, 3367, to report road crashes, vehicle breakdowns, traffic obstructions and other incidents requiring the agency’s intervention.
He said: “The preservation of human life on our highways is a collective moral obligation. A safer Lagos cannot be achieved through governmental enforcement alone; it demands responsible citizenship, spiritual guidance and the collective conscience of society.”
Meanwhile, towards a sustainable urban mobility in Lagos State, LAMATA has expanded its green fleet with 11 brand-new electric vehicle buses supplied by Oando Clean Energy Limited adding to the existing two pioneer buses that commenced proof-of-concept operations in 2023.
The delivery is part of plans to deploy an initial 50 zero-emission vehicles into the public transit network, serving as the launching pad for an ambitious long-term plan to scale up to 552 electric buses across Lagos State.
Each electric bus integrated into the fleet is expected to cut thousands of metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually, reducing air and noise pollution along major transit corridors.
The initiative is also expected to translate to cleaner air, reduced reliance on traditional fuels, and a modernised public transport system in Lagos.
