₦airaland Forum

GUIDELINES ON GATED STREETS/BARRIERS

The Ministry of Transportation has observed a surge in the installation of unauthorised gates, particularly in the Lekki axis. Many of these gates were erected without the necessary approvals from the Ministry, while some approved gates are being mismanaged as residents fail to adhere to the established guidelines for gated streets in Lagos State.

This non-compliance poses significant challenges to traffic flow, emergency response access, and overall public safety. As such, the Ministry is taking a firm stance to address this issue and wishes to reiterate the following in line with the Lagos State Government’s policy and regulations:

i. All gates and barriers installed without prior authorisation from the Lagos State Government are illegal and will be removed.

ii. Any unauthorised gate or barrier must be dismantled within seven (7) days of this announcement. Failure to comply will result in enforcement actions, including removal and penalties, in line with existing regulations.

For gates and barriers with prior approval, compliance with the following guidelines is mandatory:

i. Gates or barriers on public roads or streets must remain fully open for public use between 5:00 AM and 10:00 PM daily, to ensure interconnectivity and the free flow of traffic across the State.

ii. All approved gates or barriers must be manned by security personnel engaged by the Community Development Associations (CDAs). However, between 10:00 PM and 5:00 AM, these gates or barriers may remain closed but must be opened promptly in the event of an emergency to allow free access and exit for first responders.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Oluwaseun Osiyemi urges all residents and CDAs to strictly comply with these guidelines to foster a safe, efficient, and connected transportation network across the State. Failure to adhere to these guidelines will incur punitive measures against non-compliant CDAs, including fines and further enforcement actions from the State Government.

All residents in gated streets or areas with barriers are encouraged to ensure compliance with these regulations to maintain a safe and accessible transportation network across the State.

Mr. Oluwaseun Osiyemi,

Honourable Commissioner for Transportation

#AGreaterLagosRising
#LASG

naptu2:
The Gates Issue

I found all my old posts and threads about this issue except one. The missing post is the one that deals with the history of the problem. Therefore I have changed my mind and I will now write a summary of the problem.


1) I read about this issue for the first time in the late 1980s or early 1990s. There were security challenges in some parts of Lagos and residents of some streets on the mainland erected gates at the beginning and end of their streets and hired security guards to man the gates.

2) I read about the issue because it affected journalists and entertainers. These two groups of people often went home at odd hours and anything that affected them often became public knowledge. Many journalists wrote columns about how they left their offices late at night or early in the morning, but could not get home because the gates on their streets were closed and the security guards refused to let them through. Some had to wait at the gate till daybreak, some wrote about the altercations they had with the security guards and some wrote that some security guards recognised them and knew that they lived on the street, but they wanted bribes.

I think it was sometime in the 2000s that the story broke about a musician that was involved in a fight with the security guards on his street because they refused to let him in.

3) Dear diary, you might remember that I told you about a very violent armed robbery that I witnessed on the mainland. I could track the movement of the robbers (I knew which street they were on) because they were shooting non-stop for 3 hours.

The police showed up after almost 3 hours. I saw their truck going down a street (they still had those Operation Sweep era sirens, which were not very loud. The truck passed close to me, but I could barely hear the siren). I saw the truck go back a few minutes later and I easily figured why. The gate at the end of that street was closed. The police had to go the long way round (and that's when the gun battle began).

4) In the 2000s some residents on the Island also erected gates on their streets.

5) Governor Babatunde Fashola decided to tackle the problem, so he had a meeting with representatives of residents associations from across the state.

The governor stated that many street gates were closed all day and night and this created massive traffic jams on major streets that had no gates. He said that the inner roads (that had been gated) were supposed to serve as alternatives to the major roads and to relieve the major roads of traffic during rush hour, but this was not possible because the inner roads had been blocked by street gates.

He further said that the emergency services often found it difficult to get to the scene of emergencies because of these street gates.

The residents' associations said that they had erected street gates in order to protect themselves from violent robbers.

A compromise was eventually reached. It was agreed that the street gates would be open from 5am till midnight and then shut from midnight till 5am. It was also agreed that the residents would hire security guards to man the gates, so that they could open them if the emergency services needed to gain access to the street. The government then created a task force that was charged with monitoring the situation and dismantling gates that were shut during daytime.

6) Sometime between 2010 and 2012, the Lekki Estate Residents Association (LERA) decided that the estate was too big for LERA to effectively manage on its own. It decided to encourage residents to create mini residents associations within their streets or zones.

7) Sometime around 2015/2016, a few of these mini residents associations erected street gates in their zones. They were very few.

8 ) The Covid 19 lock down took place in 2020 and there were a lot of reports of attacks on Lekki residents. Some joggers were attacked on the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge. Pedestrians were also attacked on Admiralty Way and in other parts of Phase 1.


9) In October 2020 there was a very violent riot in Lekki Phase 1. A lot of properties on Admiralty Way, Fola Osibo Street, Adewunmi Adebimpe Drive, Ogungbe Crescent, etc were destroyed. Gangs of youths patrolled the estate and destroyed everything in sight. Some people noticed that the inner roads that had street gates did not experience the destruction and terror.

10) In the aftermath of the End SARS riots, residents of most of the streets that did not have street gates erected gates on their streets, while those that already had gates further fortified them. Some streets hired armed guards to assist the private security guards that manned the gates. You might remember that I told you that my shortcut to the petrol station had been blocked by a street gate and I had to drive the long way round when I wanted to buy petrol.

11) In 2021 Governor Sanwo-Olu had a meeting with residents associations and it was decided that street gates should be open from 6am to 10pm and that they could be closed from 10pm till 6am. They must be manned by security guards when they are closed.

12) Soon afterward an enforcement team came to Lekki and removed street gates that were shut during the day. I created a thread about it. https://www.nairaland.com/6544648/lagos-state-government-removes-unapproved

13) However, there were more incidents after this enforcement exercise. End SARS protesters continued to stage protests in the Lekki area (e.g. on October 1st, on October 20th, etc) and they have often entered the estate when either the police refused to allow them block the expressway or when they were chased away. Therefore, even more streets erected street gates. Streets that I never imagined could have street gates, like Olateju Crescent, (aka Waterside) now have street gates. You need to have the access code in order to enter most of those streets.

14) I got this message around 2 weeks ago.

Good morning everyone.

Just to share briefly the incident that occurred at my residence during the early hours of yesterday.

At approximately 5:10AM, a white Corolla vehicle with four unknown men pulled up at the main gate of my residence on Engineer George Enenmoh crescent.

According to my security guard, the vehicle hooted a few times to get his attention and a man from the vehicle approached the gate and requested to drop off a package for Oga of the house.

Unfortunately, my security guard was careless at that point as he totally assumed it could be a valid delivery service and instead of him reaching out to me for confirmation, he opened the pedestrian gate but to his surprise, he met 3 men who forced there way in by overpowering him.

One of the men had a rifle and these men assaulted my security guard, injured him badly and threatened to shoot him if he made any noise or caused any disruptions.

Whilst the robber with the rifle subdued the security guard, one of the robbers (who obliviously is a very well experienced mechanic) broke into my Toyota Prado by using a chemical to weaken one of the car windows and within about 5-7 mins was able to remove the brain-box, glove compartment and all four window controllers.

Note that the whole operation took about 12 minutes before the robbers left my compound.

4 robbers made up of 1 mechanic who carried out the car vandalization and extraction of valuable parts.
1 driver who manned the car all through keeping the engine running.
1 mask man with a rifle who subdued the security guard.
1 in charge of surveillance all through the operation.

Key points to note for everyone
1. The case of car burglary is now on the increase according to various feedback from the police.
2. The robbers now operate with arms (at least one rifle)
3. They carry out their surveillance via different means over time to identify their targets. There are some vehicle brands & models they target due to high demand of their parts.
4. They now also operate at unusual hours especially between (5:00AM till about 7:00AM) this is a new strategy. I was shown a similar case to mine at the police station yesterday where the incident started at 6:33AM and occurred in Lekki 1 just last week.
5. There is a need for everyone to be more security conscious. Educate your workers on security awareness.
6. There is need to revisit the modus operandi of the estate security to be more effective ( noting that they did not detect the robbers when they entered and left the loop).
7. The police have advised that at least two mobile police men be assigned to support the estate security between 7PM to 7AM every day. Recall the security guards are not armed and we now know that the robbers we want them to prevent are armed.

God bless & keep everyone

This has made some people advocate for more street gates and armed guards at the gate.

15) However, people who don't live in Lekki Phase 1 are sick and tired of the street gates as you can see from the screen shots below (the screenshots continue in the next post).

Lagos Street Gates To Open From 5.30AM To 12 Midnight - Residents

Jan 27, 2009 - The Lagos State Government, residents and other stakeholders at a Town Hall meeting on the impact of street gates in Lagos on traffic flow resolved on Tuesday that all Street Gates within the state will remain open from 5.30 am till 12 midnight everyday in order to ease the traffic bottleneck often caused by the Gates.

At the Town Hall meeting which had in attendance representatives of Community Development Associations, Community Development Committees, Traditional Rulers, Landlords, Security organizations, para-military formations and opinion leaders which took place at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium , Alausa, it was also agreed that all such gates will be manned by members of the Community Development Associations resident in such areas.

It was also resolved that the decisions jointly agreed on at the Town Hall meeting should become effective all over the state not later than seven days time.

The Stakeholders at the Town Hall meeting also agreed that the State Police Commissioner should ensure that all Area Commanders, DPOs, RRS, Neighbourhood watch and other security apparatus intensify street patrols.

Speaking at the interactive session, Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) said incalculable damages have been done to people through the persistent closure of gates, while also not preventing the attacks of men of the underworld.

He added that if the gates are opened till midnight as agreed by the Town Hall meeting, traffic jams would be improved considerably.

Governor Fashola implored everyone to rise to the call of duty and for the common good of all which is a duty to do what is right saying “we cannot use old and unsuccessful methods to get new and different results”.

The Governor also said those who threaten the security of the society are an insignificant number and therefore in the minority, saying he will work with the people as he has already started doing and collectively, “we can defeat them and take back our common patrimony and safety back”.

The Lagos State helmsman explained that the gates in most cases constitute serious obstacles to the efficient management of the built environment and in particular to vehicular and pedestrian movement along roads that are funded and maintained from the commonwealth which is the tax payers money.

Said he: “In cases of fire outbreaks, burglar bars and street gates have prevented fire fighters from gaining access to homes and inner streets, sometimes resulting in needless loss of lives. It forces all of us to longer routes and eliminate by-passes or connectivity access to back streets through which we would otherwise have reached our destinations quicker”.

Governor Fashola asked rhetorically: “Have the gates stopped robberies? Have we gained more than we have lost by erecting them? If we do the same thing without getting a different result, must we continue in self delusion or must we find the courage by trying something new”.

The Governor reiterated that the state has swung into action to improve security by lighting up streets at nights even where there is no power (through solar powered lights), equipping law enforcement agents and inspiring them through improved welfare packages as well as deployment of technology through 767 Emergency toll free number and commencement of street cameras pilot scheme

He recalled that Lagos in the sixties was a safe and peaceful place to live and work in, adding that one of the unfortunate and bad consequences of the Nigerian civil war was the proliferation of arms with armed robbery becoming rampant all over the country.

He added that “it therefore seemed natural that with the increase in the crime rate, people took steps to guarantee the safety of their lives and property. Everybody became prisoners or victims of fear with the introduction of barricades within or without the home. With time, residents moved from burglary bars, erection of fences, to gated compounds and streets”.

Governor Fashola said the rate at which the street gates are being erected within metropolitan Lagos in recent time has become very worrisome to the government as estates have now graduated to multiple gates keeping only one opened manned by a security guard while others remain permanently locked.

He said equally worrisome is the fact that none of the gates have an approval which is a violation of town planning law.

Experts, Governor Fashola told the gathering, have shown that street gates constitute a major constriction to traffic flow, and that their removal will spring surprises about how positively impactful the outcome will be on the city’s transportation efficiency and lives.

He added that an area like Agege Motor road which constricted at Oshodi and Mushin is only one of the roads that everyone have been forced to abandon for over 20 years until most recently, because:”We allowed a few people to convert our transport infrastructure to a market place”.

“Your Government has shown courage to make your taxes and assets work for you by clearing the constrictions at Oshodi and Mushin so that it now takes only about twenty minutes to travel from Ikeja to Apongbon through Agege Motor Road”, he said.

The Governor added: “if you imagine 60,000 people, having to leave a campaign ground or rally or a football stadium through only one exit after the event is finished, I believe that you will appreciate the picture. Gbagada, Ilupeju, Anthony Village, Surulere, Aguda, Surulere, Aguda, Okota, Ogba, Maryland, Ikeja, Opebi, Mushin, Ilasamaja, Ipaja and Itire to mention a few are daily examples of these self inflicted pains”.

He disclosed that when people clamoured for an expansion of the BRT shuttle bus service to other areas, the Agege Motor Road constitute one of the most viable but which could not be plied due to the excesses of street traders, revealing that today, LAGBUS buses are plying the Agege Motor Road without any hindrance.

Governor Fashola said the convening of the Town Hall meeting on street gates is a fulfillment of the promise he made to the people to use all his skills, knowledge and energy to find solutions to the problems that make life difficult for everyone.

Speaking earlier, Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Developemnt, Mr Francisco Abosede said the provision of street gates have made interconnectivity practically impossible for all residents of Lagos.

He added that in all places where such gates have been erected, it has not stopped criminals or armed robbers from terrorizing the residents, but has also created traffic snarls as motorists could not interconnect other areas.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Mr Kayode Opeifa in his welcome address said the government observed that though the erection of street gates may seem attractive, the consequences on the overall urban efficiency, aesthetics and functionality of the city and most especially traffic flow poses difficult questions to answer.

He added that the state Governor mandated the convocation of the Town Hall meeting to create an opportunity for the people’s contributions and inputs before arriving at any acceptable policy.

The State Police Command in its presentation made on behalf of the Commissioner of Police by State Force PRO, Supol Frank Mba the erection of gates has made the job of policing the state more difficult as the Police sometimes have problems accessing scenes of crime due to locked gates.

Participants at the interactive sessions including Oba of Egbeda, Oba Balogun who spoke on behalf of all traditional rulers and Chairman of the CDC Advisory Council, Alhaji Moshood Dosunmu all unanimously agreed and called on all residents of the state to dismantle all streets gates and give unfettered access to everyone including security agents and first aid responders.

The event was attended by several dignitaries including the State Vice Chairman of the Action Congress, Alhaji Safiriyu Sumaila, representative of the State Police Commissioner, the Navy and Airforce as well as traditional rulers and community development associations across the state.

naptu2:
i. Gates or barriers on public roads or streets must remain fully open for public use between 5:00 AM and 10:00 PM daily, to ensure interconnectivity and the free flow of traffic across the State.

naptu2:
Previous threads (with pictures and videos).

2021


Lagos State Government Removes Unapproved Street Gates In Lekki
https://www.nairaland.com/6544648/lagos-state-government-removes-unapproved


2023

Lagos State Government Removes Illegal Street Gates In Lekki Phase 1
https://www.nairaland.com/7947703/lagos-state-government-removes-illegal

hoeminique:
Is this for those estates at Ikate & Ikoyi or just the middle class ones around Ajah & Gbagada?


Liars

OBUKOMENA:
If the government cannot provide security for its citizens, is it now too much for the citizens to secure and protect themselves?

LASG should know that gating of streets are not for aesthetics but for protection of lives and property.

So, it isn't out of place if the CDA decides to do to its community what the government cannot do.

hoeminique:
Is this for those estates at Ikate & Ikoyi or just the middle class ones around Ajah & Gbagada?


Liars

BoldBrainz:
You sha cannot try this nonsense in Abuja estates and streets. But the trend is starting to gain notoriety in Calabar estates, especially Federal housing. Very anyhow behaviour in the name of security measures.