Over the long term we need to make Lagos State a car-free zone

By Ayo Akinfe

(1) Over the last few days, we have been watching the horror show on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. With the recent rains, the motorway looks like a lake, making it totally impassable in some parts

(2) In the 1970s, that road was Nigeria’s model highway. It linked the country with Benin Republic and served as a vital commercial artery with the rest of West Africa

(3) Today, it is an eyesore, partly due to government neglect and partly due to irresponsible usage. It has a wonderful drainage network, which if properly used would mean it never gets flooded

(4) However, our people dump refuse in the drains, empty their tanks along the road and we refuse to maintain it as if it were our private property

(5) In this picture from Germany is what happens on an Autobahn whenever there are traffic jams. Everyone is compelled to move to the side of the motorway and create space in the middle. This is so any emergency vehicle can pass if it is needed

(6) Ask yourselves if Nigerians ever obey such laws when passed. When we do not, do we really have the moral right to complain about bad roads?

(7) When I look at the number of trailers parked on the roads of Lagos, I have to ask if we are not complicit in our own problems. In many cases there are designated trailer parks but our people ignore them and park their trailers by the roadside

(8) Apapa has a special case as what it needs is a rail link. No trailer should be allowed within 10km of the port. Out of town terminals should be connected to the port by rail and it is there that terminals should berth

(9) Lagos State as a whole has a unique road problem which only a railway network can solve. Over the long term, we need to be ambitious and seek to designate Lagos as a car-free state

(10) Babajide Sanwoolu, the Lagos State governor-elect recently said he will resolve the Apapa gridlock within 60 days. How he intends to do that I do not know. Is he going to build railway lines within 60 days? All he can do is get people to care about public facilities within 60 days. Stop parking trailers on the road, stop defecating in public and stop blocking our drains with refuse. These little measures will help but alas, they are only a Band Aid solution