In this piece, ENIOLA AKINKUOTU takes a look at the efforts by the Akinwunmi Ambode-led government in tackling traffic challenges in Lagos State
During the last electioneering, the then Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola; and the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Akinwunmi Ambode, campaigned across the length and breadth of the state. Specifically, they visited the 20 local government areas, wearing party clothes and wielding brooms, the symbol of their party.
They preached change at the federal level and continuity in Lagos. While Fashola’s predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was nicknamed the ‘Pathfinder’, Fashola was called the ‘Actualiser’ and Ambode was called the ‘Consolidator’.
However, after the baton of leadership was passed on to Ambode on May 29, the new governor, for the first time, revealed that it would not be ‘continuity’ but that there would be a ‘change’ in the philosophy of governance in the state.
Immediately after taking the oath of office at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Onikan, Lagos, Ambode said, “We shall practise government by incentives and not government by enforcement. We shall implement creative ideas and concepts that will reduce the cost of running government; ideas that make life simpler and happier for our people… Join hands with me to offer new ideas that will pull more resources to cater for the poor and needy amongst us. This will be a compassionate government.”
According to political observers, Ambode’s speech seemed to be a departure from the philosophy of his predecessor, who believed in enforcement and penalties.
Fashola, by many standards, was an innovative governor. The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who became governor at 44, is the recipient of the 2009 Yitzhak Rabin Centre for African Development Governor of the Decade for Peace Award.
His government’s philosophy was hinged on the pursuit of the renewal of the infrastructure of Lagos as the critical strategy for economic growth. He also ensured that the state’s Internally Generated Revenue tripled through the enforcement of taxation laws.
However, many would argue that his government was elitist in nature and anti-poor. Unlike the first civilian Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, who built over 30,000 housing units mainly for low-income earners, Fashola noted that low-cost housing was unfeasible.
In May 2014, Fashola, who was responding to criticisms that his administration was only building for the rich, further justified his stance on the construction of low-cost houses. He said, “For cynics who say we have not done low-cost housing, I want them to show me where low-cost land is, low-cost cement and low-cost iron rods and they must give us labour that is low cost and naira that is low cost as well.”
Many would also argue that most of Fashola’s projects were concentrated in Eti-Osa Local Government Area, where Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki are located. The Lekki-Epe Expressway which was expanded by the Fashola administration was tolled as well as the N29bn Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge.
The governor empowered the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences which, in turn, used its enforcement arm, the Kick Against Indiscipline, to demolish illegal structures in markets across the state. Hawking and begging were banned across the state and areas such as Obalende and Oshodi began to wear a new look. The task force also forcefully returned the destitute to their states of origin, an act which put the state government on a collision course with the Igbo.
Fashola also signed the Lagos State Road Traffic Law of 2012 which saw the restriction of commercial motorcycles on highways and the imposition of huge fines and jail terms for traffic offenders. Any motorist guilty of wrongful overtaking was made to pay N100, 000 as fine. For driving against traffic, an offender’s vehicle would be forfeited permanently to the state and the offender would be sentenced to jail for one year while a second-time offender risked a three-year jail term.
According to the traffic law, vehicles that break down on the highway will be fined N50,000. Motorists plying the route designated for the Bus Rapid Transit were fined N20,000 each while second-time offenders paid N30,000.
According to statistics released by the government, the restriction on ‘okada’ led to 80 per cent reduction in crime and accidents in the state.
Even officers of the Nigerian military were not left out in the bid to enforce sanity on the roads as a senior military officer, Col. Kayode Yusuf, and his driver were stopped and lambasted by Fashola for taking the BRT lane along the Outer Marina on Lagos Island.
However, the traffic law was criticised by many human rights groups and members of the opposition for being draconian and for its harsh method of enforcement which, in a few cases, resulted in deaths due to the overzealousness of enforcement officers.
With Fashola out and Ambode in, the differences in the style of governance are becoming more glaring, especially in the area of enforcement.
For instance, Ambode has ordered the officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, KAI officials and Vehicle Inspection Officers not to harass or forcibly take over citizens’ vehicles.
In the light of his compassionate governance philosophy, Ambode said, “I want to make life simpler for every Lagosian. The duty of everybody here, including me, is to make life easier for every Lagosian. I want you to use technology in arresting those who contravene the law, instead of resorting to harassment or forcibly taking over peoples’ vehicles.
“The same technology that is used in sending reminder messages about vehicle documents could be adopted in tracking down people who commit traffic offences without forcibly seizing their cars.”
He urged KAI officers to go back to the streets and enforce the law against street trading in a civil manner, stating that the agency should also look at the option of adopting the use of social media to achieve effectiveness.
“In addition, I don’t like the practice by VIO officials who impound vehicles for days. Technology should be adopted to ensure that the practice whereby vehicles are detained for long in the VIO yards is eliminated,” Ambode added.
On September 2, 2015, the governor stormed the LASTMA headquarters and ordered that all impounded vehicles be released. In the same week, the General Manager of LASTMA, Mr. Babatunde Edu, was sacked and Mr. Bashir Braimah was appointed in his stead.
Ambode later directed that traffic offenders should no longer be arrested on the spot as was done in the past. Rather, errant motorists would have their licences or other relevant documents seized and would be allowed to go with their vehicles as is done in developed countries. However, their documents would be returned to them after they might have paid their fines. Unfortunately, however, commercial bus drivers, most of whom do not have valid documents, are usually allowed to go scot free in line with the new directive.
Braimah explained that the new policy was in line with Ambode’s directive on the agency’s non-accommodation of offenders’ vehicles after booking.
He said the traffic law had not been rescinded but that only the method of implementation had changed.
On the workability of the new approach, the LASTMA boss explained, “There will be no hiding place for traffic violators as the offenders are expected to make payment of their various fines within seven days and present their tickets at LASTMA offices and upon failure to comply, will be arrested at home after the expiration of the grace period.
“For those without valid documents or not registered in the state, there is a working synergy between the agency and other sister agencies across the federation, therefore, no traffic offender will go unpunished.”
Unfortunately, however, the new method introduced by Ambode has given many motorists, especially commercial bus drivers and commercial motorcycle riders the opportunity to flout the traffic law with impunity. Many are seen taking the BRT lanes while ‘okada’ riders now ply bridges, dual carriageways and expressways in contravention of the traffic law.
Many even assume that since the governor has stated that his government shall not be preoccupied with enforcement, they are allowed to take the BRT lanes without consequence.
Now, articulated truck drivers park indiscriminately on busy roads and are not towed because of the ‘leniency’. The traffic congestion caused by traffic obstructions cannot be totally divorced from the resurgence in traffic robbery.
Adamu Danladi, the driver of a blue Toyota Camry car with registration number EJ 54 KIJ was accosted by LASTMA officials at the Ojota end of the Ikorodu Road for plying the BRT lane during an exercise embarked on by LASTMA to inaugurate its new policy. Danladi’s documents were seized by LASTMA officials but he was allowed to go with his vehicle.
When asked by LASTMA boss, Braimah, why he took the BRT lane, Danladi said he was of the opinion that LASTMA had been prohibited from carrying out enforcement but to control and manage traffic on Lagos roads.
The LASTMA boss, who admitted that the traffic situation had worsened in Lagos said, “The state is gradually turning into a traffic bottleneck due to the excesses of motorists particularly commercial and truck drivers who are fond of flouting traffic rules and regulations, driving in directions prohibited by law, turning all the nooks and crannies of the state into vehicle parks rather than using the dedicated bus stops or vehicle parks and, therefore posing a serious security threat to lives and property.
“The agency has been magnanimous enough to have called the (traffic) unions to a family meeting towards the restoration of sanity to no avail and being a responsive and responsible government, the agency can’t fold its hand and allow the impunity to continue on Lagos roads.”
Ambode has also shifted focus from the highbrow areas to the suburbs. He has started the construction of the Ikotun-Ejigbo Road and pledged to complete the seven-kilometre Ipaja-Ayobo Road in Alimosho Local Government Area of the state within the next three months.
However, street hawking seems to have returned in full force while Oshodi and Obalende seem to be wearing their old looks once again. It remains unclear if Ambode will drive away the hawkers and street traders as doing that would be at variance with his ‘governance by compassion’.
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