10th March, 2018
The Lagos State Government has set up a committee to decongest traffic gridlock across the metropolis.
The committee was at the instance of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode who ordered such to be inaugurated in apparent response to public outcry over persistent gridlock across Lagos metropolis.
The governor had said he wanted the issue of gridlock across the metropolis to be addressed immediately.
The committee is chaired by Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Ladi Lawanson. Other members of the committee includes representatives from Nigerian Police, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Lagos State Traffic Management Agency, LASTMA, National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN and the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, LAMATA.
At the inauguration on Friday in Alausa, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, Lawanson said the committee was expanded to allow all stakeholders to play active part in decongesting across the metropolis, with Ajah axis as the pilot study.
According to him, the inclusion of NURTW and RTEAN “is to ensure that everyone is involved in addressing the issue immediately. We want a more collaborative approach and that is why we have involved the unions because they know the commercial drivers more than anyone in the state.”
Lawanson said the need for the traffic committee became imperative considering increase in travel time across the state.
He said that clearance exercise would commence in Ajah, Eti-Osa Local Government, as government believed that the axis often experience persistent traffic.
“If the strategy works in this axis, it would be spread to other parts of Lagos to reduce travel time especially during rush hours.
“From there, we would spread it to other axis of the state where gridlock had become persistent. Our aim is to reduce travel time in Lagos,” he added.
Responding on behalf of the transporters, Vice Chairman, RTEAN, Mr. Taiwo Daudu, commended the governor for embarking on the move, noting that gridlock reduced lifespan of buses.
General Manger, LASTMA, Olawale Musa said the Ajah axis would be used as a test case, with the various traffic agencies producing 20 officials each to help solve the traffic situation in the axis.
He said most of the problems normally encountered were caused by commercial bus drivers who used to pick up passengers on the road, thus, impeding the flow of traffic in different pasts of the state.
The Sector Commander, FRSC, Hyginus Omeje, said the corps was ready to collaborate with the government to decongest traffic in Ajah area in a bid to reduce travel time on roads.