Lagos — The Lagos State government has described as ill informed, misleading and diversionary, the condemnation by the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA) of the state's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) scheme.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Barrister Opeyemi Bamidele said it was unfortunate that the DPA could deliberately peddle false information to discredit and sabotage the BRT scheme, which is designed to bring succor to commuters in the state. Contrary to the claim of the DPA, Bamidele stressed that the 126 high capacity buses which will run the first phase of the scheme are brand new and that they were not procured with funds of the Lagos State government.

The BRT project is a private sector-driven initiative and the procurement of the buses was funded by ECOBANK and the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), which will operate 100 of the buses through a cooperative arrangement, the commissioner explained. "It is too late in the day for the DPA to incite commercial vehicle drivers against this landmark project because they and other critical stakeholders have been carried along at every stage of the conception and implementation of the BRT scheme.

The commercial bus operators have pledged to restrict themselves to the service lanes to ensure the success of the scheme and it is irresponsible for the DPA to incite the public to break the law", he said.