No one puts more effort into planning his trip to work than Sule Ma’an. It is the lack of adequate sleep he remembers most.
Every morning, he wakes up at 5am in order to get to the BRT terminal in Ikorodu, beat the queue, and to board a bus early.
The millennial who works in Apapa said waking up early is the first step to beating the gridlock on the roads, but there is no guarantee of getting to the office on time.
“The traffic in Mile 12 will delay you,” he said. “I could get to Apapa by 10am or even beyond, and I won’t have enough time to work and I’ll be tired.
“I don’t feel fine and I don’t feel happy. There’s no excitement to work because sitting down for too long is not enjoyable and it deadens morale and ultimately affects how I work,” he states.
This is the experience of most workers in Nigeria’s commercial hub that have to commute daily to their workplace.
According to the Danne Institute of Research, the 6.39 million people employed in Lagos spend an average of 2.21 hours in traffic daily.
“On a daily basis, more than 8 million people move in 5 million vehicles on a tiny road network of 9,204 roads, including two toll ways and three bridges linking the mainland to the island,” notes Franca Ovadje, executive director of Danne Institute of Research.
Lagos not reaping the dividend of population density
Daramola Akin could also relate to Ma’an’s experience.
He told BusinessDay that he stopped taking his personal vehicle to work because he could not stand the stress of holding the steering, talk of burning the fuel, and the number of hours he spends on the road.
“It was not palatable at all,” he recalls, “even when the BRT came, it really didn’t help so much because you have to be in the queue for a long time for the bus to come, and you spend hours standing at the terminal.”
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Using the road, Akin wakes up at 5am but would not get to work until 10am or 11am, and by then he is exhausted and can hardly do much and by the time it is getting to 4 or 5pm he gets anxious to get out of the office in order to get home on time.
Most Lagosians tell the tales of exhaustion as a result of the long hours spent in traffic daily, and this is taking a toll on productivity that should be the benefit of having a huge population density.
“When population doubles, so also should productivity. But Lagos with its millionaire cities, supply of skilled labour and a large market where businesses can thrive is not reaping the dividend of economic density,” Ovadje says.
Water transportation as a blessing
Akin, who also works in Apapa Port, once used road transportation before switching to water transportation.
“I see water transportation as a blessing,” Akin said, explaining that it gives them the opportunity to get to work on time, and it reduces the stress they go through using the road.
Reckoning on the risks, he noted that the waterway is safer now because they are provided with jackets and the waterway officers monitor the safety of everyone.
“When I discovered the waterway, it was a total relief. Comparatively, I think it is much better than the road,” he said.
An MSC Nigeria Limited worker, Kehinde Iyonwu, said it was better and faster to use the boats from Ikorodu than going by road to Apapa, stating that the trip lasts only 30 minutes.
In terms of productivity, he argued that 30 minutes estimated time of arrival (ETA) cannot be compared to staying on the road for three to four hours, as the difference of two and a half to three hours could be judiciously used in the office.
“At times when you come through the road and you get to the office, you’re tired. In fact, to start the day’s work is at times terrible and your productivity will surely be low. But if you come by water, it is better,” he said.
I lost the job
However, it was much worse for Uche Agu, an event planner living in Ikeja.
Agu is the founder of Forte Event who once had a meeting at Marina. The meeting was scheduled for 1pm.
She was going to meet a new client for a business deal; so, she left Ikeja by 10:45am hoping to get there by at least by past 11 or 12pm, after checking Google map to know her Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA), which showed 41 minutes.
But once her Uber ride drove past Onipan, there was a gridlock, which she thought would not take more than 30 minutes. Yet, she found herself sitting in traffic, and before she got to Stadium in Surulere, it was already past 1pm.
“It was a standstill. Everywhere was blocked,” Agu said. “We started ‘crawling’ and then it was past three and we had not even got to Costain.
“I was angry, frustrated and I felt so horrible. I lost the job, and I lost the client,” she said.
The extra cost
Half of the population of Lagos State spend 40 percent of their income on transportation related expenses. But asides this, research has shown that they also suffer extra cost yearly.
Danne Institute of Research in partnership with Financial Derivative Company calculated the financial cost of traffic congestion to public transport users and vehicle owners.
Using a sample size of 500 of which 82 percent response was gotten, the research showed that for an individual, the extra financial cost as a result of traffic congestion is about N80,000 a year. For vehicle owners, it is about N130,000. This is money that can be used for other things.
Managing the challenge
According to a connectivity report by Danne Institute for Research, the state has spent 35 percent of its budget in the last two decades on infrastructure.
Despite measures put in by the Lagos State government, traffic in Lagos persists.
Federick Oladehinde, commissioner for transportation, Lagos State, has enumerated that the state was taking new steps to reduce traffic congestion, saying state government was looking to develop water transport to take pressure off road transport.
The Federal Government is also collaborating with the state to ensure an end is brought to the menace in Apapa. Lagos has come up with its own taskforce to ensure that any truck parked on the road is towed.
“Lagos State will be deploying 2,000 cameras to reprimand anyone that flouts traffic rules,” Oladehinde said.
