TOLA ADENUBI and SUBAIR MOHAMMED write on the fear of Lagos residents and worries of the government as the state begins a new transportation journey.
Concerned residents of Lagos State, through their various community Development Councils (CDCs), have raised the alarm over possible tragedies as the state’s new mode of public transportation, the Lagos Rail Mass Transit Blue Line, is set to take off.
Following the inauguration of the project by the state governor, safety issues have dominated the concerns of many despite the efforts of the government to sensitise residents of the state on the danger of tampering with the system laid out for the movement of the people along the corridor.
A traveller along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway route, Rotimi Owotimo, expressed doubt about the perimeter fencing being enough to stop vandals from damaging the rail track.
Owotimo said: “The electrification of the Blue Line rail is a welcome development but I doubt if this would deter the vandals from damaging the public facility. Under the Mile 2 Bridge, there is a barricade preventing commuters from crossing to either side of the road except through the use of the pedestrian bridge. On several occasions, they have vandalised the iron tracks and the government has replaced them.
“For this new light rail, the fencing cannot prevent its destruction by the hoodlums and vandals. You need to visit the Mile 2 under Bridge inward Oshodi, you will see the vandals and touts sitting comfortably on the rail tracks. The entire rail track has been fenced to prevent encroachment but these vandals scale the fence to gain access into the rail line and sit on it, chatting and smoking. What happens when the train is coming?
“It is either the electricity has been deactivated or the track has never been powered by electricity as claimed by the government because the area boys are seen loitering around the rail track on a daily basis. How are they able to achieve this despite the state government’s claim that the rail is powered by electricity?”
The spokesperson of the agency in charge of the project, Lagos Mass Transport Authority (LAMATA), Mr Kolawole Ojelabi, confirmed the observation of Owotimo but gave the assurance that the line would run on electricity when full operation begins.
Ojelabi explained that the entire corridor was fenced to ward off encroachment. He said: “The entire corridor of the Blue Line from Marina to Mile 2 has been fenced off to ward off encroachment. There are pedestrian bridges across the 10-lane Badagry Expressway for people to cross because the rail track of the Blue Line is powered by electricity. However, we still have instances where unknown persons still go there and cut the fence.
“The Lagos State government fenced the corridor to ward off encroachment but people are still going there to cut the fence. Once the Blue Line begins operation after its commissioning, anybody that encroaches on the rail track will get electrocuted because it is powered by electricity.”
Our worries –CDC chairmen
Community leaders whose areas the corridor runs through are also speaking to the concerns of their people.
The CDC chairman in Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Council Development Area, Mr Tunde Balogun, commended the advocacy embarked upon to educate dealers in metal scraps and scavengers in the slum community on the dangers in moving too close to the Blue Line rail tracks.
Balogun raised a red flag on the safety of commercial motorcyclists who, according to him, constantly tread the dangerous path as the riders, in their numbers, ride through the Blue Line along the Otto Wolf-Mile 2 corridor, defying the warning of the state government.
He said: “The Lagos State government has been creating awareness as regards rail vandals. The head of the Hausa community has been enlightened to educate his people not to go close to the rail line. They have been educated on how dangerous it is and this has been helpful.
“I was informed that they were told to convert and cover their trucks in rubber or plastic that would protect them from coming in contact with electricity. They have been doing this and it shows the level of communication between the government and the leadership of the Hausa community in Ajeromi Ifelodun.
“So, based on the advocacy by the Lagos State government and the impacts it has had on the people, especially on the Hausa metal scrap dealers, there is no cause for alarm. We are not bothered about the scavengers and metal vandals; they have been educated on the danger inherent in moving close to the rail tracks.
“Our major concerns now are the okada riders who have turned the Blue Line rail track into their parking lot. If the Lagos State government can get rid of okada riders in that environment, sudden deaths would be averted. This is their domain and they are encouraging the people to cross the rail tracks to patronise them.
“The Lagos State government should do something urgent to discourage the riders operating within Blue Line from Otto Wolf down to Mile 2 through the entire federal road.”
The CDC chairman in Apapa-Iganmu Local Government Area, Dr Iliayasu Bamiyo Ganiyu, urged the state government to consider the safety of drug addicts and mentally unstable people living along the rail line corridor.
He advocated a synergy between the police, Lagos Safety Corps and the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) to secure the rail track and prevent sudden deaths.
He said: “That place is very close to the police station. Apart from the fence, police officers are there and they should be able to protect lives and stop vandals. They are meant to secure lives and property. Whether scavengers or vandals, they are all Nigerians and need to be protected from being electrocuted.
“When you consider the challenges, the Lagos State government has done enough by putting barricade along the track. But to strengthen the security in that axis, the Safety Corps, the police and OPC that provide security for us in the night can be engaged since they are available within the community from Mile 2 to Okokomaiko.
“They need to work with the police to ensure that nobody goes near the track but if there are means of protecting the track other than electrifying it, it will be better. They told us that electrifying the Blue Line will make it move faster but what about the mad people and the drug addicts who have lost their minds?
“When the scavengers see that the place is powered by electricity, they will not move close but how do mad people and drug addicts identify and protect themselves from danger? Regardless of their mental health, they are human and need to be protected, too.”
A controversial project?
The idea of developing a rapid transit in Lagos State dates back to 1983 with the Lagos Metroline network conceived by Alhaji Lateef Jakande during the Second Republic. The project was scrapped in 1985 after a military coup truncated the civilian administration at the time.
In 2003, the then Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, revived the rail network, with a formal announcement of its construction by the then newly-formed Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA).
Under LAMATA, the Blue Line is a 27-kilometre rail network from Marina, the commercial nerve center of the state, to Okokomaiko. The second line, the Red Line, a 37-kilometre rail line, will run from Marina to Agbado. The line will share the right-of-way of the Lagos-Kano Standard Gauge Railway.
With the completion of the first phase of the Lagos Rail Mass Transit Blue Line from Marina to Mile 2, towards the end of last year, residents of the state are set to witness in the new year, an entirely new form of rail transportation that is powered by electricity and not diesel as commonly used by the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).
On completion, the entire railway system (Red and Blue) is expected to move more than 500,000 passengers daily, which translates to over 182 million passengers a year. The Blue Line alone is expected to move about 31 million commuting Lagos population in a year, with a daily average of about 84,000 passengers.
As welcoming as the addition to public transportation in the state seems, the safety aspect is getting both the government and the citizenry worried.
Vandalism of public assets is not particularly strange to the state as many government assets have been vandalised in recent past, including the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge Rail.
The complete steel iron of the rail tracks makes the projects attractive to scavengers.
However, on the Blue and Red Lines of the state government, instant death awaits would-be vandals, the LAMATA spokesperson disclosed to Saturday Tribune.
He said: “We have embarked on various advocacies to ensure Lagosians understand the implication of cutting the fence once the line becomes operational.
“Electric form of transportation is the way to go. All over the world, transportation is going electric because there won’t be any emission. Leading cities all over the world have gone electric when we talk about transportation, and Lagos State cannot be an exception. That is why we keep asking people to use the pedestrian bridges made available across the Badagry Expressway.
“People have to get used to using the bridges because the tracks are powered by electricity that can electrocute anything that comes in contact with it once it becomes operational. The advocacies are ongoing because there won’t be any excuse when the train starts operation.”
Sacrificial goats?
For many observers, the commuting public in Lagos is not ready for an electric mode of transportation. Speaking with Saturday Tribune, Mr Chukwuma Orji, a lawyer who resides in the Alakija area of Ojo, along the Badagry expressway, expressed the belief that it would take one or two people being electrocuted for the commuting public to come to terms with the new reality that the new form of transportation brings.
Orji said: “Marina to Okokomaiko is a long stretch of road. I have listened to social media jingles on the implication of an electric track for the Blue Line. However, it will take more than that to secure the track.
“This is Lagos, and the menace of steel iron scavengers cannot be ruled out. Look at what they (the scavengers) have turned the demarcation in-between the Alaba axis of the Badagry expressway into. A solid cement demarcation was cut into pieces just because scavengers wanted to get hold of the steel iron inside the demarcation. Now, we are talking of steel iron in open glare lying on the ground from Marina to Mile 2.
“I learnt some sections of the track are on bridges but some are still at the ground level. In my view, it will take more than social media or even radio jingles to stop these diehard scavengers. Maybe when one or two scavengers get electrocuted, Lagosians will become familiar with the new form of transportation that Lagos is offering.”
Also speaking with Saturday Tribune, a trader at the Iyana-Iba Market, Alhaja Modinatu Aremu, wondered why Lagos is bringing a form of transport that brings instant death along with it.
Aremu said: “Mile 2 to Okokomaiko is densely-populated. It is good that Lagos started with the Marina to Mile 2 phase first so that people can become more familiar with the dos and don’ts.
“For some mentally-deranged people who roam our roads, I just pray the fencing of the track is enough to stop them. This is Lagos where all manner of people roam the streets. I am not sure if Lagos is ready for this kind of transportation but I think everybody will adjust with time.”
According to the LAMATA spokesman, Ojelabi, the entire stretch of the Marina-Mile 2 Blue Line has been fenced to prevent encroachment by unauthorised persons.
However, a cursory look at public infrastructures in Lagos that were protected by fence when inaugurated revealed that it didn’t take months before many of the fences were destroyed and the public assets encroached upon.
During the administration of former Governor Babatunde Fashola, checks by Saturday Tribune revealed, most of the flowers planted along major highways in the state as part of the beautification project were initially protected by fencing.
However, most of the fencing structures were tampered with by vandals with most of the flowers uprooted.
Also, the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge rail, after completion, had a perimeter fencing protecting the tracks in densely-populated areas of Lagos State like Oshodi, Ikeja and Mushin.
Checks by Saturday Tribune also showed that most of the fence used to protect the standard gauge rail built by the Federal Government are now relics as many of them have been cut open and are no longer serving the purpose they were meant to serve.
Commenting on whether fencing will protect the electric tracks, Orji said: “Obviously, the fence won’t serve as a deterrent to vandals. From what has happened to previous projects in Lagos that were secured by fences, it is easy to predict what will happen to this new fence.
“Like I said earlier, it will take some casualties to drive home the point that vandals are not needed around the Blue Line. Until some people fall victim to the electrocution aspect of the project, Lagosians won’t believe this talk of people shouldn’t go near the track.
“It will take more than fencing or jingles to stop people from going across the track. When it dawns on everybody that instant death awaits any trespasser, then even the tracks won’t need the fencing anymore.”
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