Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has vowed to fight head-on the traffic congestion especially on Apapa. He promised Lagosians that he will “fight, name and shame saboteurs” out to frustrate efforts to bring sanity on the road.
Sanwo-Olu, who spoke with reporters at the opening of the newly reconfigured Lekki First, Second and Abraham Adesanya Roundabouts, warned that government would deal decisively with anyone sabotaging its effort.
He said: “We will stop at nothing to return sanity to Apapa roads and we are determined to confront anyone who tries to draw us back.
“We will name and shame them, be it individual or body corporate, police officer, Lagos State officer, be it a union, that will say that the solution that we have brought will not work, they will go and answer to the citizens of Nigeria and Lagos.
“We will bring them to the court of public opinion. We cannot continue to condone the recklessness of some people in the name of doing their business.”
The governor said his administration gave a commitment that it would do everything possible to solve the Apapa gridlock.
“Yes, you can say that it is taking us a year because we need to have a concerted effort; we need to work a lot from the background, and you remember that there was first, presidential task team that was there, so we needed to unbundle that before we moved in.
“But beyond, that we needed to collaborate with a lot stakeholders on that corridor. NPA, being our main stakeholder, federal ministry of transportation, all of the maritime operators and the unions that are in that corridor.
“And what we are seeing is the beginning of a lasting solution that we have brought to Apapa. Our appeal is that we are not out of it completely yet.
“Our citizens have seen that Apapa that used to take two to three hours can indeed take them 15 and maximum 20 minutes to commute,” he said.
The governor praised the NPA Managing Director Hadiza Bala Usman for partnering with the government to sanitise the area.
“I want all the big transport and logistics companies to collaborate with us. Sifax, I want to you come because we know you have huge numbers of trailers, Dangote, Nigeria Flour Mills (NFM), Tunde Folawiyo, and others, let us relieve our citizens of the burden that Apapa has become, that’s the real reason we are in government.
“We will stop at nothing because our guys will be working to ensure there are no surprises on the road. I want to say to our citizens that these are just one of our modest attempt to ensure that what we promised, which is to solve transportation and traffic solutions in Lagos, and we do it well,” he said.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Transportation Dr Frederic Oladeinde said the junction improvement works was meant to allow for more vehicular movements on roads that had earlier outlived their present carriage. He said government had discovered that most of the existing roundabouts were prepared mainly traffic control system which in reality could not meet the current needs of the state aspiring to be Africa’s first smart city with the highest population.
He said: “Your vision for a greater Lagos with excellent transportation system will continue to inspire us to work harder and implement your administration focus for a transport system that is safe, efficient, secured and one that meets international best standard.”