The fact is that the Lagos Traffic Law has been defied since it was enacted. In spite of heavy investment in enforcement which led to the seizure of thousands of motorcycles, the recrudescent return of commercial motorcyclists to restricted routes had become a nightmare that the previous administration battled with minimal results, particularly in semi-urban areas. For instance, the Task Force was once shocked to arrest the same okada rider on the Third Mainland four times in one day each with a different motorcycle!
This notorious fact informed the decision of Ambode’s campaign managers to re-set the compliance mode from negative to positive by emphasizing the over 1, 700 streets that the traffic law allows commercial motorcyclists to ply rather than the 475 restricted routes that they were raising so much hell about. The 475 routes bore the brunt of the state’s mass transit strategy enabling commercial and private motorists to commute to and from work daily without having to struggle with the okada riders, who defy safety measures such as the compulsory use of helmets and maintenance of side mirrors, for road use.
The order to release impounded vehicles and motorcycles by Governor Ambode must be seen to be what it is: a reprieve to go and sin no more. This gives the new administration the moral advantage to penalize those who still violate traffic laws after such a generous handshake. Boladale is on a free fall from facts when he invents the lie that the truck drivers are flouting the governor’s directive to restrict the time they can ply the road from 9pm to 9am.
Truck owners
The fact is that the registered association of truck owners and drivers have engaged the administration in negotiation with a view to softening the law since it was re-affirmed but the administration has not budged. This public analyst is also on a free fall from history. Advertising palpable ignorance, he attempts to compare the first 100 days of the Fashola administration with the current administration and predictably, ends up making a fool of himself. The fact is that Tinubu, Fashola and Ambode regimes occupy tactical phases in a continuum of strategy structured to last 25 years, from 1999 to 2024 during which the modern Lagos gradually overcomes its weaknesses by developing new strengths.
For instance, the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit system including the purchase of 100 buses, which Governor Fashola launched with fanfare in his first 100 days had its beginning in Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s administration in 2004 when Lagos dispatched a delegation to Brazil to understudy the BRT system. The problem: with the length of vehicles bought in Lagos measuring four times its road network, only a mass transit system could ensure that workers commute from home to work in time. Implementing this solution led to the widening of the roads, creation of huge specialized bus stops, the construction of BRT bus only routes, the structuring of the loan to purchase LAGBUS buses and ensure repayment under a novel ownership scheme and the yellow marking of express routes to ease turn-around. These were executed up till May 2007 and made it easy for the new administration to hit the ground and run.
Similarly, as part of the 25 year Lagos Development Strategy, Governor Fashola initiated the implementation of both the rail and water elements of this strategy with the construction of the Orile-CMS light rail route and jetties. Governor Fashola bequeathed to his worthy successor the gigantic rail construction nearing completion and it will be Governor Ambode’s task, having taken the baton, to take it to the finishing line by commissioning it and inaugurating the operations.
Security records a similar continuity. Note that hoodlums had taken over the state as at 1999 and communities engaged in self-protective vigilante shifts. The Rapid Response Force, as a Lagos State funded unit of the Nigeria Police was the innovative response of the Asiwaju administration which extracted from the Nigeria Police the concession to allow policemen trained by. Lagos taxpayers funds to stay longer in the state. The Fashola administration built on this by widening its funding source through the Lagos Security Trust Fund and its command network through the Control Centre. This increased the capacity of the state to combat insecurity but it is misleading to give the impression that it brought crime to zero.
Anyone who is conversant with the State Development Plan which was reviewed under the Fashola administration for the period 2012 to 2015, will not be looking for Ambode’s blueprint. This is the only state in the federation that developed 25 year long term development plan and has ensured that successive administrations executed the elements to the letter.
And this brings up the reckless disinformation that Governor Ambode’ plans for the state are not known. It is the responsibility of anyone who seeks to comment on public matters to engage in research. Had this hack writer acquired such discipline, he would have resisted the urge to malign the new administration all in the desperate bid to see his byline in print. Mr. Ambode ‘s plan to consolidate the achievements of his predecessors through the N25 billion youth empowerment project, ensure value for money in the transaction of government business and expand the investment opportunities form the icing on the cake of the Development Plan of Lagos State.
It is said that the only permanent factor of life is change. In Lagos, the tradition of changing for the better will continue under Governor Ambode. While the concern expressed by Lagosians on the need for rapid change is welcome, Boladale’s unrestrained, ignorant and mischievous and divisive tirade is meant to cause a free for all bedlam in a state whose track record for peace and development has become legendary.
Kehinde Bamigbetan, former chairman of Ejigbo. LCDA and Director, Media of the Support Group for Ambode, SGFA, wrote from Lagos.
This article was originally published on Vanguard.