Key Areas Lagos New Governor Must Look Into – AutoReportNG

It won’t be too late to congratulate the governor-elect of Lagos state, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the next executive governor of Lagos state. While we believe and agree that power belongs to the people, they have the power either to vote-in people of their choice and also to vote-out if he/she performs below par. We look forward to seeing a Lagos where there will be a massive change in terms of growth, infrastructure and also in economic areas.

Lagos is a cosmopolitan city, a city of about 18million Nigeria who comes from all walks of life, with its population, Lagos can be ranked as a country which can stand on its own and also control its own affairs, anyone who governors Lagos must bear it in mind that he is governing 3-5 countries together, therefore the governor needs to get his priority right else he will be stranded and lose focus.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu during his campaign across the city of Lagos promised to revamp the state, during his debate with other candidates which held at Landmark Event Centre and which was organized by Covenant Christian Centre, Sanwo-Olu was heard saying he will solve the traffic issue of Lagos in 6 months once he assumes power! As in 6 months? According to Mr. Sanwo-Olu, he said, he had consulted some experts who have identified major traffic spots in the city and plans were in place to design quick wins. We can’t wait to see the magic wand our dear governor will wave in Lagos, we will watch while we grab our popcorn and sip a drink.

AutoReportNG.com decided to list some areas the governor-elect of Lagos must take to focus and address as soon as possible. These areas have caused lots of pains, agony, and suffering to Lagosians, it doesn’t matter your class, we all bear the grudges and the pains. These will be itemized below…

1. Bad Roads

If there is anything that unites us in Lagos, then will be bad roads. From Orile to Mile 2, to Ikorodu, to Ikeja, we can say that 65% of Lagos roads are death traps. The roads have become more like a nightmare as a journey that is meant to last for 10-15mins results to hours all thanks to the bad roads. A visit towards Mile 2, Alaba international, Ikorodu among others will tell you that Lagosians are going through a lot. The outgoing governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode stated a project which he tagged #181LagosRoads. With this, the Lagos State ministry of works and environment are embarking to reconstruct of 181 roads across the state. While some have been done, some are on-going as we speak, but we can confirm that 80% of these roads have been stalled since he lost his re-election bid. Please declare a state of emergency on Lagos roads!

2. Dirty Environment

Just as the saying goes, cleanliness is next to Godliness. A healthy environment will help curtail diseases and germs. It will be appropriate to say that Lagos is very very dirty. The effect of VisionScape is still fresh on our minds. Even though the LAWMA agency have returned to their previous work posts but things are not the same again. This is not the Lagos Mr. Babatunde Fashola left when he was handing over. A visit during the day to Lagos Island, Idumota, Oyingbo, Ikoyi, Obalende, among other places in Lagos will tell you that Lagos needs urgent help. Ever since the monthly sanitation has been stalled, our environment seems to have taken a new twist at us.

3. Agbero/Area Boys (Street Urchins)

The rate at which these area boys are operating in Lagos State, we hope we won’t wake up one morning and see that Lagos is empty. These guys operate as if they are Lords and owner of the land, they constitute a nuisance to the public and to the environment, the painful part of it is that the residents are helpless in most cases. Imagine a man who bought a big generator for his factory use, they stopped him and the driver of the truck that they won’t offload the generator until he “settles” them. This is the generator the owner bought with his sweat! The same thing applies when someone wants to build or erect a building, they won’t allow them to do their job until you part way with some money. These and more are a time bomb that if they are not properly and urgently looked into may cause serious havoc. Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has a lot to do in this regards by putting them in their place and also safeguard the lives and properties of its citizenry.

4. Lekki Toll-Gate

Ask an average Lagos resident about the Lekki toll gate and he will tell you its a scam! Never in the history of Nigeria has a company taken us for a ride for so long. The Lekki Toll Gate was built during the Babatunde Fashola regime. According to a report done by TheCable, it was said that The Lagos state government has acquired ownership of the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) and the Lekki-Epe expressway toll gate in December 2014. So, if the Lagos State has acquired and paid off the company, why the toll again? It may interest you that no one knows how much has been earned, how much the company makes in a day and how much remains to be paid. It is being estimated that at least 100,000 cars pass through Lekki Toll-Gate daily. Let’s assume each car pays 80 naira that means LCC makes 8million naira daily. Mr. Sanwo-Olu has a lot to do in this area.

5. Traffic Congestion

There is a popular saying that Lagosians stay and live in traffic, they only check on their homes once a while. Lagos is notorious for traffic. The traffic is due to incessant parking of cars, trailers on the bridge, bad roads among others. An average Lagosian spends 3-4hrs daily. AutoReportNG followed up your campaigns and there was a time you were quoted as saying that you had your template on how to curtail traffic in less than 6 months. We can’t wait to see that come to manifestation. Meanwhile, we noticed almost all traffic lights in Lagos have stopped working, the LASTMA have become docile in their duties, we are yet to know the work of the Neighborhood Watch folks. We hope they can be made useful and more proactive.

6. Transportation

Kudos must be given to the outgoing governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode. He tried in terms of transportation. EG., he was able to curtail some major traffic prone areas like Berger, Iyana Oworo, Iyana Ipaja among others through the introduction of bus stops and Lay-bys. He also tried to change the face of BRT transportation by upgrading them and adding more to the fleet. As much as we applaud this gesture for a job well done, this seems not to solve the transport issue in Lagos. In a city of about 18million people, transportation ought to be diversified to other aspects. Ambode would have won Lagos over if he had completed the Lagos Light Railway but the project has remained abandoned since Fashola left. If the railway has been completed, it will take the burden off the road as people will be forced to park their cars and use the railway which is faster, easier and probably cheaper. The waterways sector seem to be lagging behind. Despite the government intervention of the Ambode government, little seems to be known or heard of this transport mode. AutoReportNG is using this medium to charge the governor-elect to kindly see to it that the railway gets working and always LASWA is charged to do more in terms of water transportation. It is not by beautiful office edifice alone, they should be resilient and charge to take Lagos transport to the Next Level.

God bless Nigeria, God bless the center of the aquatic splendor, Lagos State.

– AutoReportNG