Sonnie Ekwowusi
19 March 2008
column
Lagos — Fasholaism (sounds like Fascism), the philosophy of government of THISDAY award-winning governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), is very much in the air in Lagos at the moment.
You cannot take a few steps in Lagos without smelling it. It is really catching on. It seems as if Governor Fashola is racing against time. He is behaving like someone who is conscious of the brevity of time. He is bent on transforming Lagos before the magical year 2015 or 2020 from a jungle city of street urchins into a respectable mega city of where human beings can live and breath some fresh air.
Whereas President Yar'Adua has promised to restore electricity in the country in the year 2011, Fashola has reportedly unveiled a master plan for the new Lagos State energy city project said to be valued at N228 billion. At the same time the governor is also embarking on road construction and widening projects. Two weeks ago he warned that the days of the tyranny of the army uniform were: that any army officer caught flouting the traffic laws would regret the day he was born. He tasks Lagos lawyers for not paying their taxes. Fashola has proved to be a listening governor too. In this column sometime last year we complained about the hot droppings of the area boys in front of the State House, Marina, precisely beneath and atop the bridge facing the Governor's residence. Since then some praise-worthy changes have been noticed around the area. The area has been barricaded with barbwires to prevent the street miscreants from messing it up. Trees have also been planted in the area in reminiscent of the greenish Marina of yesteryears. Let's see whether the trees will survive in the face of the menace of the area boys.
A few days ago the Lagos State Government finally officially flagged off the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) transport project. The BRT is a child of necessity. It was imported to tackle the hellish vehicular traffic congestion in Lagos. Aside from the defecation on top of the bridges, indiscriminate dumping of refuse on the highways; urinating in public places; blocking of the express roads for owambes; nuisance of neighbourhood churches; digging across the highway in search of water, the vehicular traffic congestion in Lagos has made the city unlivable. No motorist wants to give the other a right of way. The traffic policemen are corrupt. Even LASTMA has become corrupt. LASTMA men now extort money from motorists. When they see a danfo bus driver flouting the traffic law, they look the other way, but when they see a fine car, they run after it. Like a swarm of bees the okadas are just one big nuisance in Lagos. They have horns that sound like trailer horns. The okada riders are stubborn and reckless. Pray that you don't mistakenly knock down any of them with your car.
Therefore if the BRT must work, Governor Fashola must tackle these menaces. He must first cure the heavy-duty truck drivers in Lagos of their madness. These truck drivers have overrun Lagos. Because their trucks are not roadworthy, they can fall across the bridge or road any time anywhere. The trucks have no brakes. They knock down the street electric poles. The truck drivers have no regard for other road users. The tyres of the trucks are completely worn-out. Their exhaust pipes emit suffocating and irritating fumes. Apapa trailers and petrol tankers have made Creek road, Apapa, impassable.
Last Monday along Bank Anthony Way, one of these rickety trucks carrying huge cranes ran into me. The traffic light and traffic warden had stopped us and we were waiting for the traffic light to turn green. My car was standing in a world of its own when suddenly a smoking truck with registration number XH 187 KRD negligently driven by one small boy, in the age bracket of 20-25, ran into my car and damaged it. Of course the brake of the truck had failed. Expectedly the half-naked young driver and the truck owner immediately jumped down from the truck and flattened their stomachs on the ever-busy Bank Anthony way pleading for forgiveness: "Oga the law, I am sorry. Oga mi, take me as your son. Oga mi, forgive me. I go give you N4,000,", the reckless driver kept pleading. Soon a police woman arrived the scene of the accident. "Why are you people blocking the road?", she bellowed. The truck driver ran and knelt in front of her and started pleading for help.
I had expected the police officer to make an entry in her note book or diary regarding the accident or take a measurement of the scene of the accident. She did nothing. No long we were being interrogated by the IPO and DPO of the Nigeria Police Force, Area "F" Command, Ikeja, Lagos. "The law, make you make statement", the IPO said in Pidgin English as he pushed a paper and a biro in my direction. To cut the long frustrating story short, the IPO and DPO eventually compromised the case despite my insistence that the truck driver be prosecuted to, at least, serve as a deterrent to negligent driving. The Nigeria police, my brother, is not well and I don't expect them to be well in Lagos. So let's not waste words on the Nigeria police.
Therefore, if Governor Fashola wants Lagos to become a mega city, he must first rid Lagos of rickety trucks and petrol tankers. Since these trucks are not roadworthy, they should not be plying the roads. When ex-governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu launched his MOT project during his reign, all hailed it as the best thing that could have happened to Lagos at that time. Then the vehicles in Lagos were required to obtain a roadworthy certificate before they could ply the roads. But what happened shortly after the project took off? Corruption crept in and destroyed the beautiful project. I doubt if Governor Fashola is thinking of resuscitating Tinubu's MOT. Unfortunately the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO) visible on the road in black and white, whose job it is to stop rickety vehicles from plying our roads, are only interested in harassing private car owners and extorting money from them.
But the greatest obstacle to the smooth operation of the BRT, as we all know, is the animalistic behaviour of many Lagosians. Probably by next year, or even before, the new BRT buses will be smoking owing to poor maintenance. Street hawkers and community of beggars shall encumber the BRT lane, thus making it impossible for the BRT buses to move along the lane. A long-truck driven by a reckless driver will summersault several times, falls across the BRT lane, and the towing vehicle coming to tow it will also break down inside the BRT lane. A BRT bus will crush a human being to death inside the BRT lane and the dead body will be left there to decompose and to be infested with maggots. Very soon touts and street urchins will start defecating and urinating in the BRT lane. When the rains start, the BRT lane will be completely covered by ferocious flood which will prevent the movement of the BRT buses. The mad men in Lagos will soon convert the BRT lane into their private homes, and probably set it on fire. Household refuse will be dumped in the BRT lane at night. The BRT bus conductor shall engage the BRT passenger in a free-for-all fight and smash the front windscreen of the BRT bus. The fine BRT bus stop will soon be vandalized by hoodlums.
This is Lagos for you, in case you don't know. Being a Lagos boy, I am sure Governor Fashola will not be shocked seeing the above happening. Meanwhile enjoy your BRT ride. X
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