A few weeks ago, some photographs emerged of the former governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayo Fayose, leaving his car to ride on a commercial motorcycle in order to beat the traffic jam on his way to the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State. The only reason the photos got many people talking was because it involved a former governor of a state in Nigeria.
For air travellers in Lagos, seeing people jump out of their car on Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way to jump on a commercial motorcycle is not news. This has been going on for about five years now. Although Lagos has been known for its terrible traffic jams for decades, the road that leads into the local airport in Ikeja was not this problematic until about three years ago. In the past, traffic towards the airport on Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way was not usually heavy during the day because more people would be moving in the opposite direction towards Maryland on their way to work. It was only in the evening when people were returning from work that traffic towards the airport was heavy.
These days, from 7 a.m. traffic on Mobolaji Bank-Anthony has become so heavy that air travellers risk missing their flights. The only way to avoid that traffic snarl is to pay, go for early morning flights, leave home by 5 a.m. or 5.30 a.m. and pass through Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way before 6.30 a.m. The other option is to leave home or office about five hours before your flight schedule. If you get to the airport too early, you sit down there for hours waiting for the scheduled time of your flight. This leads to loss of hours that should have been put to good use at home or in the office.
Those who benefit from this terrible traffic problem are the commercial motorcycle riders. They charge as much as N2,000 for a distance of less than one kilometre. Many people who notice that they may miss their flight if they continue to stay in their car usually jump out like Fayose with their bag and jump on a commercial motorcycle popularly called okada.
Ironically, Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way is one of the roads commercial motorcycles are banned from plying. Defaulters are usually arrested and their motorcycles seized. Over the weekend, it was reported that the Lagos State Government crushed 482 impounded motorcycles for contravening traffic rules. The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, who witnessed the crushing exercise, noted that the exercise had been going on since the enforcement started but was carried out publicly on Saturday “to convince members of the public especially the doubting Thomas that the impounded motorcycles are actually being crushed contrary to insinuations by mischief makers that the motorbikes are being sold and recycled.” Warning erring motorcycle operators plying restricted areas and those violating other traffic laws or using motorcycles for criminal activities in the state to have a change of mind or face the consequences, Odumosu informed the public that the crushing exercise would be a continuous exercise for the purpose of discouraging people “from trampling upon the law, and also show the determination of the police in enforcing laws.”
However, because of the high profit okada riders make daily on that road, they take the risk to ride against traffic, asking those in traffic if they need their services. They get patronage because the traffic jam has become a daily problem.
Though the Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way is a dual carriageway of two lanes on both sides, the reason for the traffic jam on it is that the two lanes merge to become one lane a few metres to the roundabout in front of the airport. The rise in the number of vehicles on Lagos road is another factor. Another factor may also be the insecurity in the country which has made many people to avoid interstate road trips. Over the weekend, some travellers on the Abuja-Kaduna road were kidnapped. Insecurity, has therefore, made air travel popular, giving rise to flights becoming fully booked on most routes. Some ten years ago, one could drive to the airport and buy a ticket to any city in Nigeria. These days, that is risky, as one may not see a ticket to buy. Even when such a ticket is available, it is usually two or three times higher than the normal price. There is also the factor of improved security in air travel in Nigeria. In the past ten years too, there has been a great improvement in standards of air operations in Nigeria, so that air accidents have become rare, boosting people’s confidence in air travel.
Given the status of Lagos as a pacesetter among Nigerian states in the area of embarking on big projects, there is a need for Lagos State Government to do something innovative to solve the traffic problem faced by those going to the local airport. One thing to do is to create cable car transportation to the airport from different routes, especially on Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way. Cable cars have been in use at Obudu Mountain Resort in Cross River for some years now. Therefore, it is not something that has never been done in Nigeria.
Another option is to create an air train service to the airport from different routes. The local airport can also be connected to the international airport via air train. This has been in operation in many densely populated cities overseas where traffic is a challenge.
The third option is to re-enact what was done on the International Airport Road on Mobalaji Bank-Anthony Way. Though that road is a federal road, the former governor of Lagos, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, transformed it into a thing of pride. He did not just reconstruct the road, he widened it. Then he added an overhead bridge to it to ensure that those going to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport or coming into Nigeria do not run into any traffic jam caused by those driving around the airport. In 2005, a colleague of mine and group business editor of Daily Independent, Mr Joseph Sesebo, lost his life in a car crash where the overhead bridge stands today. When he closed from work that night, he was going home when a driver who was speeding to the international airport, perhaps not to miss his flight, ran into him at the intersection. If that overhead bridge had been constructed, that accident would not have occurred and Sesebo could be alive today.
The cable car or air train may be for the middle class and upper class, but the reconstruction and widening of Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way will be for the benefit of everybody – both high and low. The road has setbacks on both sides which can be converted to another lane. It is only the Nigeria Police Force compound, situated beside Grange School, that has encroached on that setback by extending its compound wall some metres to the road. That encroachment can be knocked down for the purposes of widening that road. A flyover can also be added in front of the airport to take traffic from the top of Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway into the airport. That way, only those who are going to the local airport will use the overhead bridge.
Just as the road to the international airport has been made beautiful by Ambode, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu should ensure that he writes his name in gold by transforming the road that leads to the local airport.
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