Transportation is an integral part of all growing cities in the world. Lagos, Nigeria is a city that has been steadily growing since the beginning of the latter half of the twentieth century, and this growth has major effects on the city and its traffic situation (Olukoju 8). The geography of Lagos in particular makes it interesting to study, because the major metropolitan area is Lagos Island. The majority of the transport is concentrated towards this one small part of a huge area, and although this is the case in most cities, being surrounded by water only serves to make overland transport more congested in Lagos. Because of this problem, I wanted to study Lagos’ public transport systems and other privately run operations to see how the government and the workers in the city are currently dealing with and trying to solve this issue. Lagos’s government and transport authorities have been working to create and implement feasible plans to improve transport congestion for as many people as possible, but these plans are not being put into place at a rate that works for the growing population of Lagos. 

Transport in Lagos is one aspect of infrastructure that is important to study, because transportation is an issue that affects all cities, but these issues are traditionally looked at from a Western perspective, because they are the ones most often perceived as having the most developed and robust systems. But commuters in these traditional Western cities will still complain about their situation, so a new perspective on this issue of transportation is important to contribute new ideas that can be applied anywhere in the world.

The major conclusion I have found from my research thus far is that system in Lagos is in need of improvement and has been needing and planning for it for some time now. The main issues however, is when will they come? A mass transit system has been in the works since the early 2000s, there have been plans to discontinue the private danfo minibuses, and just last month there was an announcement of an improved ferry system (Otunola et al). But all of these developments don’t seem to have taken hold yet. But before looking at plans for the future and how long they have been in the works, one must also look at how far Lagos has come. The system has been far from stagnant. The introduction of it’s Bus Rapid Transit system, the first in the African continent is proof of this, but this happened in 2008 (Otunola et al). Currently, Lagos is one of the world’s only major cities without a robust urban rail system. Changes are in place and in the works, but they are not happening nearly fast enough to keep up with the growth of the city.

The main issue is a lack of organization. Commuters have cited that informal stops by “motorists who pick up and drop off passengers on the roadway,” are a major reason for the traffic congestion you see in Lagos (Ibitayo). And this issue is caused by the huge number of non government run minibuses and other privately run transport services. But as the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) has found, getting rid of these private operations is no easy task, especially without a government run reliable and affordable alternative waiting.

Research that has been done already focuses either commutes or private/public transport, but through the opinions of commuters gathered by other researchers, I hope to gauge exactly how well the government in Nigeria and the transport authorities are working towards the needs of the people.