Labour Party governorship candidate in Lagos State, Rotimi Odunaike, has called for a fundamental restructuring of the state’s road transportation system, arguing that government must distinguish between criminality and the thousands of legitimate workers who earn their livelihoods within the transport sector.
Appearing on MiTV’s Breakfast Express Show, where he argued that the solution to the long running “agbero” challenge in Lagos is not blanket condemnation, Odunaike advocated for the professionalisation, regulation and digitisation of the road transport ecosystem.
“Some of those agberos that we’re talking about are also human beings. There are criminal elements amongst them that we need to prosecute… Amongst the others are drivers, conductors, motor park attendants, traders, and things like that”, he said.
According to him, government should take greater responsibility for the management of motor parks, while transport unions should focus on their core professional responsibilities.
He proposed a clearer separation of functions in which government manages and regulates transport infrastructure, while organisations such as the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, and Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, concentrate on driver professionalism, training, cooperatives and worker protection.
Odunaike said: “NURTW, RTEAN should focus on driver professionalism, training, cooperatives… everything around the protection of the driver. Not focused on levy collection, managing parks and so on.”
Odunaike also called for the system to be digitised, arguing that technology and clearer institutional responsibilities could help reduce abuses while making the transport sector more professional and accountable.
“If we separate the two and make everything digitised and bring professionalism and dignity to transportation and bring the private sector to support, I believe things will get better”, he said.
The proposal forms part of Odunaike’s broader argument that Lagos’ transportation challenge should be addressed not simply as a traffic problem, but as a question of mobility, dignity and quality of life.
Earlier in the interview, he described his proposed mobility framework as “connected mobility”, combining intermodal and interconnected transportation systems with a focus on making movement across Lagos more efficient and dignified.
He argued that improving public transportation should ultimately make it easier for Lagosians to access jobs, schools, healthcare and other essential services.
Odunaike also linked effective reform to the quality of leadership overseeing public institutions.
He said his proposed governance model would measure manifesto commitments against publicly defined KPIs and scorecards, while seeking to create a civil service that is transparent, responsive and empathetic towards citizens.
“Let it be transparent. Let them encounter a civil service that is responsive to them, responsive to their needs, empathetic with them”, he added.
For Odunaike, the underlying principle is that public institutions should exist to serve citizens rather than make citizens feel that they are at the mercy of government officials.
