Transport in Metropolitan Lagos: Fid-Bau Portal

Transport in Metropolitan Lagos

Bolade, Adeniyi ‘Tunji

With an estimated population of 4 million people occupying an area of 1640 sq km, Metropolitan Lagos is the fastest growing urban region in Nigeria. Lagos is still the dual capital city of both the Federal and Lagos State Governments of Nigeria; it contains over half of the nation's industrial, commercial and other economic activities. These create transport demands which seem to have exceeded what the available transport infrastructures and services can cope with. The rapid deterioration in the Government‐owned public transport system and the unorganized operation of numerous private minibuses, the dramatic increase in private car ownership associated with this and with the rapid economic growth after 1970, the inadequacy of road and parking spaces relative to this demand, coupled with unplanned growth and haphazard land use as well as ineffective traffic management and general urban planning, have all combined to compound the metropolitan transport problems. Recent policy initiatives have concentrated on expansion of major routes and some indirect traffic restraint measures. Significant achievements have been made since the worst road traffic chaos of the mid‐1970s. But the long‐term solutions lie in the promotion of mass transit, comprehensive traffic management and coordinated urban and transport planning and administration of the metropolitan region.