The excesses of Agbero, a variant of the growing population of Area boys in Lagos, have protracted for too long and constitute cause for sociological concern. It deserves to be mentioned that their recurrent nuisance on the streets of the foremost commercial capital and additional burden to the cost of public transportation eschew civility and deserve an overhaul. The government cannot continue to give credence to claims that Agbero is an important ally of the political class and the party in power and, therefore, above the law. And if Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu hopes to curate a legacy of Greater Lagos, he cannot continue to ignore the destructive legions of Agbero, who daily remind all of Lagos’ backwardness.
Comparatively, Lagos is the most populous city on the continent and an important commercial prospect globally. Recent research of the World Economic Forum placed Lagos atop the five fastest-growing cities in Africa, leading Kinshasa, Cairo, Luanda and Nairobi. The World Bank also estimated that Lagos will be the largest city in the world by 2100, accommodating 88 million people, up from the current population of 21 million.
While Nigeria’s commercial centre is ranked the second cheapest for expatriates, the Global Liveability Index 2024 ranked it the fourth least liveable city globally. The report is not unconnected with the Economic Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) assessment of 173 cities across the globe, which placed Lagos in the 170th position. Their assessment scores the cities on 30 indicators divided into five categories: Stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure, to show how comfortable these cities are. Lagos has its cultural heritage and unique splendour. These are, however, contradicted by its choking and poorly structured environment laced with Area boys that have become laws to themselves. No major cities in Africa or other parts of the world are more at home with that chaotic and near-ungovernable environment than Lagos.
Suffice it to add that the problem of Agbero is neither new nor unique to Lagos. They are the unbridled children of yesterday’s national recklessness that failed to invest adequately in education and plan good employment for all. But this army of street urchins has found a home in Lagos and all over the junctions of major roads. Under the umbrella of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), they are living large on heavy tax collections from commercial buses, tricycles and motorcycle operators – much more than governments are demanding from citizens. A 2023 estimate states that Agbero in Lagos account for over N120 billion yearly in revenue that goes into private pockets.
Today, their excesses are worse off. A commercial driver, Yekeen Alao, said when drivers pick up passengers from the park, each driver (per bus) remits to Agbero a fee equivalent to the fares of four passengers. “For instance, if the fare for each passenger is N700, we end up paying N2800 to the park authorities.” Meanwhile, these poor drivers also pay sundry charges to lurking territorial Agbero at each bus stop where they discharge or pick up passengers. Attempts at resistance are regularly met with violence that gets the vehicle damaged and the driver beaten up. In that hostile environment, and for drivers to break even, transport fares have gone up by an extra 100 per cent – to cater for the excess of Lagos Agbero.
There is no gainsaying that the situation is just as embarrassing for the state government. Despite insinuations that the Agbero have more political relevance during elections, which is suggestive of brigandage, no serious administration can afford to ignore them for this long. As a leader presiding over a mega city with the aspiration to turn it into a smart city of global relevance, the Lagos State Governor Sanwo-Olu should take more than a cursory interest in curbing the extortion and harassment by both state and non-state actors in the transport sector.
We know that the problem is not new, and previous administrations from the military era made efforts to reform, reduce, or completely extricate the area boys without success. Once upon a time, the rehabilitation efforts led to the building of training and rehabilitation centres for young adults, based on the assumption that area boys could be turned into useful citizens by teaching them marketable skills such as plumbing, bricklaying, and tiling.
The current boss of the NDLEA, Buba Marwa, as Military Governor in Lagos, glorified the rehabilitation programme by calling them ‘Good Boys And Girls.’ The sitting president, Bola Tinubu, during his era as Lagos Governor, also raised the bar by committing even more resources and introducing ‘tough love’, which saw recalcitrant Area boys being ‘deported’ to Tekunle, a gulag of a rehabilitation centre in Ibeju Lekki area, which could only be reached by a boat ride over shark-infested waters. He also didn’t end the social problem.
Private interventions have sought to reform and rehabilitate area boys. Organisations such as God Bless Nigeria Church have undertaken notable efforts, the most publicised being the case of Shanowole, a young boy rescued and rehabilitated who went viral when his before and after video was shared online. Chess in Slums has also made remarkable progress in places like Oshodi and Ibadan, using chess to engage young boys and teach them valuable life skills. Other organisations are working toward similar goals.
However, the fact that past interventions didn’t last is not a good alibi for Mr Sanwo-Olu not to try. Since coming on board almost six years ago, what has been his administration’s contribution to finding new solutions to those old problems? As often said, crises are not a distraction to the business of governance; they are the main business of governance. What solution has he brought to the fore to tackle this crisis? Instead, Lagos residents could see a terse official endorsement of Agbero as “a form of job creation.” Question is how many children of the state government officials and political class are holding forth as Agbero or in NURTW uniform? Or in how many modern cities are such “jobs” a crest of achievement to any government?
The state government must prioritise the reformation of area boys and equip them with skills that will make them productive members of society. Education and vocational training could provide a pathway to stability across all the local government areas. There should be a scale-up of the ‘Good Boys And Girls’ and ‘Tough Love’ initiatives that also severely punish unrepentant street urchins and their enablers.
