By Kate Halim And Lawrence Enyoghasu

It has become a daily source of unmitigated agony. Each day, Lagos commuters undergo tremendous trauma on the roads, as they spend many hours in traffic.

Traffic snarls on Lagos roads leave residents, especially commuters, in untold agony as they move from one part of the state to another. 

The sad reality is that there seems to be no immediate solution in sight, as some government officials that are supposed to restore order on the roads do the opposite.

This is distressing for commuters who have to go about their daily activities despite spending hours in traffic every day. Many even get robbed by hoodlums and traffic robbers.

Mrs Gloria Faleye lives at Ojodu Berger and works in a gas plant in Surulere. She told Saturday Sun that driving to work has become impossible because of the stress she goes through coming to work and going back home. 

According to Faleye, she was almost robbed twice at Ketu Bus Stop due to the traffic on that axis. She added that she decided to stop driving to work to save herself the anxiety of watching her side mirrors at night. 

“Driving in traffic in Lagos is not for the faint-hearted. You are not only stressed from wasting precious time in traffic, you are also worried about traffic robbers who unleash their anger on innocent people,” Faleye added. 

Faleye said that the annoying thing is the attitude of policemen and men of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA). “They don’t enforce the law when they are around. They are only concerned about ripping innocent people off,” she said. 

It was a bright Saturday morning. The sky was lit, and almost all automobiles using gas or petrol had hit Egbeda- Idimu and Ikotun- Idimu. There were different honking sounds and at different intervals. The drivers sometimes lower their door-mirror to either abuse or plead for passage. It was a total lockdown.

The two-lane road was blocked from Okunola Bus Stop to Pipeline Bus Stop, through Orelope, Seliat, and Ile Epo Alhaji. A distance of three kilometres, which should not take more than six minutes drive, took about an hour.  It was so because the commercial drivers that are supposed to pick up passengers at the drive-through at these bus stops don’t obey the driving law. Rather they stop at passengers’ convenient spots. 

The actions of the drivers are complemented by the stop and search operation of the Idimu Police. The police station, which is very close to the area, brings out its personnel every Saturday morning to routinely stop and search every car, truck, lorry, and tricycle that passes through the road. The problem is that they don’t park the car and search; they search on the lane. 

When Chinedu Stanley, a young driver, tried to ask one of the officers why they were not parking the cars before being searched, the officer replied rudely: ‘Because we have answered you quickly, abi?” The officer claimed that they had adopted that method to save time for the drivers, but they didn’t know the queue they had caused behind. 

The same thing plays out daily by Jakande Estate Gate, Isolo, where LASTMA officials and police officers look on as commercial bus drivers cause ‘destiny-changing traffic’ according to a commuter, Obinna Ekwona. The furious young man said that the traffic had denied him of opportunities in the last ten years.

“I moved to this area after leaving my uncle’s house in Ago, Okota because it was the only area I could afford a place with my menial job revenue while I look for permanent jobs. It was crazy that each time those big opportunities come, this road would cause me to miss it. These opportunities come with ‘can -you make- it- to- me’ clause, when you answer yes and don’t get there, it sends another message to the helper,” Ekwona stated. 

Ekwona might be right. The junction is a total lockdown. There are bus stops on both lanes and only the entrance has a drive-through, which has been blocked with a no-parking sign from the bank and grocery stores located on the road. The drive-through on the other lane has been eclipsed by the construction of a filling station on the exit of the lane. 

Taking note of the traffic situation, you will notice that the LASTMA officials only allow drivers that have tipped them to load their buses and chase others away. They try to clear the traffic in front of the banks, grocery shops, and filling stations. 

According to a commuter, Anene Ukamaka, the blame is on the government which allowed such delicate establishments like the bank to be close to the bus stop. 

Anene said: “Our government used one of the most populous bus stops in our area to build banks and supermarkets, then tell bus drivers not to stop there again. It is not possible because as you can see, there are indications that there is or was a bus stop here.”

According to her, the drivers have to move down to drop passengers on a narrow lane and that would cause traffic. 

“The painful part is that the same LASTMA would still be trying to arrest those who had done the right thing; those who stopped at the drive-through to stop passengers. The LASTMA officials are the ones causing traffic on this road,” she added.

Mr. Peter Salami has been enduring pains of unnecessary traffic jam on his route. He said that commercial vehicles plying the airport route from National stop indiscriminately on the road to pick passengers along the way, thereby creating unnecessary traffic.

Salami revealed that the most annoying thing about the way these ‘danfo’ drivers park to pick passengers is that they compete with one another, thereby blocking the other lane for other road users. 

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He said: “If they park on one lane to pick passengers, it might be better for road users but they park side by side and struggle for passengers without thinking about other road users.”

Salami added that the bus drivers cause a gridlock which usually stretches from National into the expressway and this affects free flow of traffic at Ikeja Along up to Mangoro and Cement Bus Stops to link inward Akowonjo Road. He lamented that during peak hours, the axis is not the best place to be. 

Nkoyo Essien lives at Jakande Estate. The young lady said the gridlock at the popular Iyana Ejigbo Road gives her anxiety. 

According to Essien, Iyana Ejigbo connects busy and highly populated areas such as Ejigbo, Egbeda, Ikotun, Idimu, Jakande Estate, Isolo, Ijegun and Okota. 

Essien said navigating these areas during peak periods is nightmarish. This is because getting to Ikotun and Jakande Estate from Cele Express has become a thorn in the flesh of many Lagosians who ply that route. 

“A drive from Jakande Estate gate in Oke Ada to Ikotun that won’t normally take 20 minutes now takes over an hour because of traffic. The annoying thing is that the policemen stationed on that route only stop buses to collect money from drivers without helping motorists clear the traffic,” Essien added. 

While narrating how painful it is for her and other road users to get home from their various places of work or businesses, Essien noted that in the evenings, the logjam stretches from Cele Express to Jakande Estate gate sometimes. 

“Many times, I have had to alight from buses and start trekking. At other times, I board a bike with one person because the bike riders charge exorbitant prices to take us to our destination”, she said. 

Essien told Saturday Sun that sometimes, drivers of commercial buses would abandon their vehicles and disappear with their conductors after collecting money from their passengers, leaving commuters stranded because of the traffic snarl. 

Despite the three-lane lay-bys and modern motor park constructed at Ketu, Lagos, the battle to reduce traffic congestion on that axis by the Lagos State government is being hampered by bus drivers who park on the road to pick passengers. 

The traffic situation in Ketu is further heightened by private car owners who also join commercial bus drivers to park indiscriminately to drop and pick up passengers.

All this is done everyday, especially during rush hours in the full glare of police and traffic management officers who mostly look the other way. In fact, the Ketu Bus Stop is almost directly opposite the Ketu Police Station. And that is where both private and commercial drivers pick passengers with utmost recklessness.

A drive through Ketu to Ikorodu on a working day is frustrating for road users according to Mrs. Juliet Okeke. The mother of two plies that axis on her way home to Berger. She told Saturday Sun that she passes through hell navigating that place after a hard day’s job. 

She said: “It seems that commercial buses are above the law in Ketu. The annoying thing is that a police station is right by the bus stop, but the policemen and LASTMA officials who should help reduce the chaos are not helping matters. They are only interested in collecting money from the bus drivers.”

Okeke added that sometimes, these policemen and LASTMA officials who are supposed to restore order on the road turn a blind eye to the dangerous activities of commercial bus drivers who take “the BRT lane if there’s traffic on their own lane. 

“I can’t count how many times I have seen buses knock down pedestrians who are trying to cross the road because of the recklessness of bus drivers. Even LASTMA officials have been knocked down at the bus stop. Why are government officials allowing them to break the law without punishing them?” 

For Mr. Fola Adeniyi, the traffic situation is the same at Berger Bus Stop heading towards Lagos Ibadan Expressway. He said that once he closes from work at Anthony Bus Stop in Ikorodu Road, he starts hyperventilating when he thinks about staying in traffic for hours. 

Adeniyi revealed that heading to Berger from Ikorodu Road, the traffic usually starts from Ojota. There, you see the chaotic way commercial bus drivers and even private car owners drive and park anyhow.

He said that the traffic sometimes stretches to 7Up Bus Stop but after there, it’s free for a while until you get to Omole Estate. At Omole Estate, Adeniyi said that he encounters traffic usually caused by trucks that broke down or by commercial buses picking and dropping passengers on the road. 

“These bus drivers stop on the road to pick and drop passengers as if they own the road. The sad thing is that LASTMA officials on that axis do nothing to restore sanity there, “he noted.

According to Adeniyi, the journey to Berger is hellish on work days and peak periods. He noted that even if he leaves the office by 8pm hoping that the traffic would have reduced, he would still sit in a bus for over two hours before getting to Berger. 

When one of the reporters visited Ketu Bus Stop, it was discovered that the layby built by the Lagos State government lay mostly empty, while commercial bus drivers and private motorists stopped to drop and pick passengers on the expressway.

Three or four LASTMA officials busied themselves feuding with a bus driver for no apparent cause. Some onlookers said the driver probably did not fulfil his own part of an unwritten agreement. The situation, as well as the long line of danfo buses picking passengers right under the pedestrian bridge, led to a gridlock that stretched all the way to Ile-Ile Bus Stop, which affected motorists approaching Ketu from Mile 12.