Funso Doherty, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate for Lagos State governor, has accused powerful informal transport networks of obstructing efforts to modernise the city’s public transportation system. Speaking during a gubernatorial debate held in Lagos on Friday, Doherty argued that the persistent reliance on ageing commercial buses is not an oversight but the result of deliberate resistance from vested interests.
The remarks were made during a debate organised by the Nigeria Debate Consortium, which includes Channels Television, TVC News, The PUNCH, TheCable, and Vanguard. Doherty criticised the current state of public transit, questioning why successive administrations have failed to upgrade the infrastructure despite the widespread presence of what he described as "rickety buses" operating across the state.
“Our public transportation system is not modernised. Thousands of rickety buses are moving around. We must ask ourselves: are these what our people deserve? Why has it taken so long to modernise public transportation?” Doherty asked, highlighting the disparity between the city’s status and the quality of its transit services.
The NDC candidate attributed the stagnation to the influence of the "agbero" system, a term used to describe informal transport unions and associated groups that exert significant control over routes and operations. He alleged that an entire ecosystem has formed around these interests, creating a barrier to reform due to a lack of political will from previous governments.
“In my opinion, the lack of modern transportation is not by accident. There are vested interests in operating the bus system the way it is. Many of us understand the agbero system; there is an ecosystem around it, and there is no political will to deal with that problem,” Doherty stated.
Doherty pledged that his administration would overhaul the state’s public transportation sector if elected, asserting that his mandate would come directly from the voters rather than from informal transport networks. “We would modernise public transportation because we would be elected by the people and not by the agbero network,” he added, signalling a commitment to breaking the existing power dynamics in the sector.
<small>Source: Vanguard News — read the original story there.</small>
