From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:NIGERIA: TRAFFIC CHAOS BACK ON LAGOS ROADS
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 03:51:32 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: NIGERIA: TRAFFIC CHAOS BACK ON LAGOS ROADS


an inter press service feature

by toye olori

lagos, oct 28 (ips) -- lagos, a city of an estimated five
million people and until 10 months ago, nigeria's political
capital, is at a standstill.

business and movement for citizens have become unbearable
since lagos state governor michael otedola suspended the traffic
law early this month.

tempers are short in a city where temperatures average 27
degrees celsius and unemployment is highest in a country of 88.5
million people.

sweaty commuter drivers and their passengers trade curses
with car owners as they dangerously wield their way through
traffic jams that remind city dwellers of the early 1970s.

broken-down vehicles dot the major highways, making traffic
queues, as long as several kilometres, difficult to ease.

''i leave home as early as 6.00 a.m.'', says ademola rasaki
a bookshop owner, ''but i don't get to my shop on the island
about 20 km away until 11.00 a.m. because of heavy traffic.

''tell me what can i sell at that time when most of my
customers come very early in the day'', adds 54-year-old rasaki.

the shop owner and other citizens say the traffic law
suspension for six months and the withdrawal of policemen from
check points are the chief reasons for the chaos on lagos
roads.

under the suspended law, vehicles whose registration numbers
begin with odd numbers are allowed to ply major roads in the
city mondays, wednesdays and fridays.

cars with registration numbers beginning with even numbers
can only use the major roads tuesdays and thursdays.

the law did not prescribe any restrictions at weekends or on
public holidays while vehicles belonging to essential services
such as hospitals, the armed forces, the police, fire service,
judiciary and journalists are exempted. (more/ips)


nigeria: traffic (2)

rasaki recalls that before the law was passed in 1977, there
was traffic chaos all over lagos. but ''there were very few
vehicles compared to today when the streets are flooded with
with thousands of used imported cars'', he says.

traders like rasaki are not the only citizens who are losing
by the current severe traffic problems here.

office workers who live on the densely-populated lagos
mainland speak of increased issuance of queries by their bosses
for late coming.

''my boss gave me a query the other day for coming late to
the office, he lives in ikoyi (a rich suburb on the island) and
does not know what the traffic situation is between the mainland
and the island'', dele gorden, a civil servant at the federal
radio corporation of nigeria, told ips.

happily, says gorden, ''everybody in the office is now
aware of the situation and nobody queries you for coming late''.

''many of us on the mainland get to office at about 9.30
a.m. instead of the 7.30 a.m. official time'', he adds.

gorden says the suspension of the traffic law may have been
taken because of the movement of the nation's capital to abuja
and the commissioning of a third bridge to join the mainland and
the island areas of the city.

''many people who are on transfer to abuja still left their
family and property here so the traffic situation could not have
changed because of abuja'', says gorden.

the suspension of the law has also affected the revenue of
local governments in the state. commercial vehicles no longer
have to pay the 1,000 naira (about 50 u.s. dollars) per vehicle
in order to ply the roads daily.

while commuters are calling for the reinstatement of the odd
and even number law, the federal road safety commission (frsc)
has begun the patrol of urban roads in cities such as lagos to
check reckless driving, another cause of traffic jams.

yemi oyeyemi, lagos zonal commander of the frsc explains
that the patrol will enhance better traffic management.

''with the support of special marshals, we hope to
effectively control traffic in cities'', oyeyemi adds.
(end/ips/to/ro/apc/92)
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