Earlier today, I, the Honourable Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi @seun_osiyemi, the SA on Transportation @Sola_Giwa, the SA on the Environment, Olakunle Rotimi Akodu @rotimi_akodu, PS ODS, Engr. Mahmood Adegbite @mogbite and other stakeholders visited the Obalende underbridge, Apongbon, Ijora and National Stadium underbridge where we gave a 4-day relocation notice to all squatters under the Obalende bridge as well as illegal motor parks operators and buses who have moved to the main road.

All shanties, dwellers, traders, squatters & abandoned vehicles presently under the Obalende bridge must vacate the area by Thursday afternoon as enforcement would commence in the early hours of Friday. Also, all commercial vehicle operators who are on the main roads in Obalende must relocate to the various parks provided for them because the government has had enough of the defacement of the aesthetics of Obalende by the operators and it must now be restored.

We also inspected the ongoing clean up of Apongbon Under-Bridge, Ebute Ero and other areas to monitor the level of compliance with Mr Governor’s directive that there should be no form of trading or habitation under the bridge and all adjoining areas across Lagos State.

The government is set to sustain clean and safe environment and in a couple of months, the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK) will move in after the deadline to commence work on the beautification and landscaping of Obalende under bridge, Apongbon Underbridge, Ebute Ero underbridge, while the clean up exercise spreads across the state.

Earlier at the Ilubirin, a strategic project of the Lagos State government which is meant to regenerate Isale Eko and to do that, there is a need to get the outflow of water through the Ilubirin path.

I have also directed that the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps begin to arrest and immediately prosecute anyone crossing the highways across the State. Crossing the highways is prohibited by the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Protection Law 2017.

#ZeroToleranceLagos #CleanerLagos


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2vZ00iycpY?si=-3zJTELqQVx19e-q


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxtoG4q8Doc?si=PLi5Uet_2AuoXzco

naptu2:
This is another side story from the transport series.


The BRT inherited a lot of facilities from the old LSTC. This included the Obalende Terminus and the Keffi Bus Stop. I think I need to explain those two places.


Obalende

There is a serious problem with the place called Obalende Bus Stop and that problem exists till today. The problem is tied to the question, where is Obalende Bus Stop?

There isn't an actual bus stop at the place called Obalende Bus Stop and commercial buses just stop anywhere on the road in the area around Obalende Road, Ikoyi Road, Obalende Roundabout and the approaches to Lewis Street, Moloney Street and Igbosere Road.


Commercial buses often stopped underneath the flyover and just before the ramp to the Third Mainland Bridge during the Shagari/Jakande era. In fact, the bus drivers sometimes bribed the traffic warden on duty, so that he would stop traffic long enough for them to load passengers. This was quite dangerous because that area was the route that senior government officials like the IGP and the service chiefs used when going to the office in the morning.

The only proper bus stop was the LSTC terminal, but that was reserved exclusively for LSTC buses.

Governor Marwa wanted to solve this problem (in the 1990s), so he devised a solution. The LSTC system had stopped working before he became governor, so he opened up the LSTC terminal to the regular yellow and black commercial buses. The Lagos State Task Force (soldiers and mobile policemen) were deployed to prevent buses from stopping on the road and the buses were allowed to drive into the LSTC terminus, pick passengers there and then drive out without obstructing traffic.

Governor Fashola retrieved the LSTC terminus from the yellow and black buses and used it as a terminus for the BRT system. However, before doing that, he constructed a new bus stop for the yellow and black buses and that bus stop was beside and underneath the Ring Road system (aka Third Mainland Bridge).

However, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode came and undid a lot of the things that Fashola had done. He deployed mobile policemen and policemen from the Lagos State Task Force to the bus stop of the yellow and black buses and arrested everybody there. He also used heavy earthmoving equipment to destroy the structures that Fashola had built.

So we are back to square 1. There is no real bus stop for the yellow and black buses and they just stop on the road to pick passengers.


Keffi

There was also a large park for the LSTC at the junction of Keffi Street and Awolowo Road. You could also get good snacks at that bus stop in the late 1970s and early 1980s. That bus stop reminds me of the Scholars Bus.

Governor Lateef Jakande converted some of the LSTC buses into Scholars Buses and they carried school children (in uniform) to and from school free of charge. You might remember that there are a lot of primary and secondary schools near the Keffi area and so that bus stop was always filled with school children.

That large bus stop fell into disuse in the late 1980s. Weed and area boys took over the place. The place was basically abandoned by the government.

Governor Fashola rehabilitated the place and used it as a depot for the BRT system. BRT buses were parked there over night and it even had its own petrol station. There was tight security in the compound and I heard that they had installed facilities for cleaning the buses.

However, Governor Ambode closed the BRT depot and instead, Ibile Holdings, the company that's owned by the Lagos State Government, began constructing a tower block on the site.

There's the belief among some Lagos State officials that land is Lagos State's equivalent of crude oil. They believe that it brings in a lot of revenue, particularly in certain very expensive areas, and therefore, public facilities in those places should be converted to office blocks and other such facilities that can bring in revenue. This is one of the reasons that some Lagos State officials have been trying to close the Ikoyi Prison (they believe that there shouldn't be a prison on such prime real estate).

(I will probably post a link to this in the transport series).

Originalsly:
I don't agree with the pedestrian bridge.... cities for more than 50 years have been using cross walks at street level ... why are we stuck on these sky-high crossings?
I do.agree 100% with the clearing of the underbridges and roadsides.... that N50 000 fine should be directed to them ... not pedestrians. His enforcement squad should ensure the areas remain clear.

matify83:
This commissioner of the environment seems to know his job description.
He's always in the news for the right reasons.

All havens for criminals and street urchins are being decimated daily by his urban renewal program.

His kind of energy is desired at the national level.
Exactly

naptu2:


Because of the definition of expressways. Expressways are wide roads that have no junctions, crosswalks or other impediments. Traffic is allowed to flow continously.

Pedestrian crossings/crosswalks are for regular roads, while pedestrian bridges are for expressways.

Expressways have flyovers, pedestrian bridges, escalators, clover leaf entrances and exits, etc.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled-access_highway

Originalsly:


No doubt ... but expressways passing through densely populated city areas either be elevated/flyovers or run below street level. It's for the planners to reroute the expressway. ... elevator it ... or have lights and declassify it as an expressway.

matify83:
This commissioner of the environment seems to know his job description.
He's always in the news for the right reasons.

All havens for criminals and street urchins are being decimated daily by his urban renewal program.

His kind of energy is desired at the national level.

Originalsly:
I don't agree with the pedestrian bridge.... cities for more than 50 years have been using cross walks at street level ... why are we stuck on these sky-high crossings?
I do.agree 100% with the clearing of the underbridges and roadsides.... that N50 000 fine should be directed to them ... not pedestrians. His enforcement squad should ensure the areas remain clear.

BABAawoo47:


It doesn't affect them na, Imagine you having to walk up 10 bridges a day...Omo

naptu2:
Tokunbo Wahab is the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources.

Tokunbo Wahab @tokunbo_wahab

SoNature:
Ideally,
Funnily enough, this is the same thing Tinubu has fought for all his political life and the APC already has an existing restructuring template. Tinubu is totally clueless and incompetent!

iwaeda:


Every year they make this ban. Can you imagine cattles being reared under Obalende. I went by on Saturday, it was eyesore. Korope, danfo virtually load on the road with people spreading their wares to cover more than half of the road. I know all those spaces are PAID for, Sola Giwa and Tokunbo should get to the root. Land /space is the oil sold in Lagos.

naptu2:


Provide evidence that they make this ban every year. Start from 2023 and work backwards. Give us evidence for every year for at least the past 10 years.

iwaeda:

Go and check tweets from Ministry of Environment, since when Mr. Tunji-Bellow was commissioner.Even after Apagbon bridge got burnt, Gov. Sanwo-Olu gave ultimatum for illegal occupants to vacate. You can Google search Egbon.

[/left][left]

naptu2:


Provide evidence that they make this ban every year. Start from 2023 and work backwards. Give us evidence for every year for at least the past 10 years.