Lagos expresses concern over ambient air pollution, advocates non-motorised transportation

The Lagos State Government has revealed that non-motorised transport is part of its ongoing transport reforms geared toward an equitable, effective and sustainable transportation system.

Speaking on Sunday during the maiden Lagos Car-Free Day, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, expressed concern at the attendant ambient air pollution from the state’s rising population and consequent increase in the use of automobiles.

Citing a World Bank report, the Lagos State Governor noted that road transportation is a main source of ambient air pollution and accounted for losses of about $2.1 billion from illnesses and premature death in 2018, while air pollution in Lagos led to over 11,000 premature deaths same year.

Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Commissioner for Transport, Dr Frederick Oladeinde, regretted that in spite of efforts towards a more effective, efficient and sustainable transport system through several infrastructural, policy and institutional reforms, the State roads and streets remain largely non-inclusive.

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According to Governor Sanw-Olu, “Most of the transportation challenges persist, resulting in an increasing number of vehicles on our inadequate and already overstretched road infrastructure, and creating the nightmare in our city.

“But let’s just take a moment to imagine how our Lagos would look like with fewer cars. Imagine a city where our roads are shared among the different categories of road users with equal access.

“Imagine a Lagos where pedestrians, cyclists and other road users have equal access to the roads, where they are free and feel safe to use the roads without the fear of being knocked down by cars or being harassed or molested.

“Imagine the various benefits – environmental, social, economic and ultimately, health.

“Car-free days are an opportunity for cities to highlight how congested roads can be used in different ways. They are to remind us that the roads are supposed to be for humans and not cars.

“They present us the opportunity to rethink transportation in our cities. They are to showcase how our cities might look like, feel like, and sound like without cars.

“Car-free days are not intended to get rid of motor vehicles but to show us an innovative way of making our transportation equitable, effective and sustainable.”

On his part, Oladeinde disclosed that automobile transportation accounts for about 25 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the state, among others.

In the words of the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, “And so we need to adapt, and one of the ways to adapt to climate change that we are experiencing now is to reduce our car mode.

“We urge people to use public transport, other forms of non-motorised transport like walking and ensure doing a bit of exercise. Let’s rely less on our cars.

“To this without crisis, we are developing a non-motorised transport policy. We have already developed a non-motorised transport plan.

“In some of the constructions we are going to be doing, we are going to be adding bicycles, walkways, and ensure they are demarcated from the rest of the car mode.

“We are beginning to implement that with the one at the Catholic Mission Street in Lagos; we are in the process of implementing it at Ikoyi and Lekki also.

“So, we will put infrastructure in place to ensure that people are encouraged to cycle, and we will have to link them in such a way to make sense for people to cycle to final destinations.

“Going forward, the government will publicise the Lagos Car-Free Day, which will be annually on September 22 in line with the world celebration. We will encourage people to join us and ultimately it will become our policy.”

Earlier, the Managing Director of Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Mrs Abimbola Akinajo, said the objectives of the World Car-free Day are in tandem with the state’s vision to entrench a non-motorised transport (NMT) system in Lagos as contained in the Strategic Transport Master Plan.

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Lagos expresses concern over ambient air pollution, advocates non-motorised transportation