The Mega-city and the okada phenomenon

Lagos – the smallest state in the country with size area of 357, 7000 hectares, but yet the most populated with an estimated 21 million people and a population density of 4, 193 persons per square kilometre generally and even 20, 000 persons per square kilometre in built-up areas of the Metropolis – occupies a unique position in the country. Besides being the former capital of the country, it is also the commercial, economic, as well as financial capital of Nigeria accounting for over 50 per cent of Nigeria’s industrial and commercial establishments, as well as 70 per cent of manufacturing activities. In addition, it has the most active stock exchange in West Africa; its four ports collectively handle about 75 per cent of the country’s imports by weight and 90 per cent of non-oil exports by weight. What was more, the international airport in the city handled about 80 per cent of airborne exports and imports and 80 per cent of passenger movements in and out of the country. It was projected that the population of the city will grow to 36 million by 2020.

Despite all these, its infrastructure – especially its public transportation system – has remained decrepit and unfit for a city of its status, especially as the leadership in the state, since the turn of the century, have positioned it to join the league of top megacities in the world. A report in 2006 estimated that the city’s transport infrastructure and services were at levels that supported only a population of 6 million. Individuals therefore had to provide their own transportation, coupled with rickety buses run by private individuals and some unions – which does not offer comfort nor is it dignifying for the majority of the inhabitants of the city. The ensuing congestion on the roads and constant traffic gridlock led to the gradual introduction and use of okada as a means of public transportation especially for those who wish to escape the constant gridlocks and madness on Lagos roads.

However, the cost of the use of Okada for public transportation has been staggering. Besides the eyesore it constitutes on the road and the fact that the riders drive recklessly and often against traffic, the cost in human lives and injuries is staggering. For instance, a survey carried out by the CLEEN foundation in 2013 showed that nearly half (47 percent) of all road accidents in Nigeria involved okada. In Lagos alone, besides the thousands of injuries resulting from the use of okada as a means of transportation, about 270 deaths are recorded yearly before the partial ban of okada in Lagos in 2012.

As part of its desires to improve public transportation to conform to the standard of a megacity – which will eventually obviate the need for okada as a means of public transportation and consign its use to only the rural parts of the state – the Lagos state government lunched the Lagos Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in 2008 and developed a transportation Master Plan for the metropolis where water and rail transportation will be fully developed to complement the overstretched road transport network.

The master plan identified a Lagos Urban Rail Network to cover seven corridors as part of an integrated MRT system to link the major population and activity centres in Lagos state. The seven lines include: 31 km long Red Line from Agbado to Marina; 6 km Red Line – extension to Local and International wings of Murtala Mohammed International Airport; 27 km Blue Line on Badagry Expressway; 26 km Green Line from Marina to proposed Lekki Airport; 34 km Yellow Line from Otta/MM Airport to Iddo; 60 km Purple Line – from Redemption Camp (in Ogun state) to Lagos State University, Ojo; 42 km Orange Line from Redemption Camp to Marina; and 20km Brown Line from Mile 12 to Marina.

All the rail lines were expected to be delivered in 2020 at an estimated cost of about $8 billion. However, due to the huge financial outlay, the state government decided to start with the 27.5 km blue line to run from Okokomaiko to Marina. It was awarded at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion, was started in August 2009, and was meant to be completed in 36 months (August 2012). However, the project could not be completed on schedule and the completion date had severally been shifted to June 2013, 2014, 2015 and now 2017.

Meanwhile, Addis Ababa, a city of only 4 million people, made history by becoming the first sub-Saharan African city to launch a 34-kilometre and 39-station electric tram rail system. Incidentally, its rail system, started in 2012, was completed in record time and cost a mere $475 million – a far cry from Lagos’ $1.2 billion 27.5 rail system. That is how a serious and effective government functions.

The need to remove okada from Lagos roads is urgent and we call on the government to get its acts together and begin to demonstrate that it has the capacity to transform Lagos into a megacity worthy of the name.