The Lagos State government is to adopt a Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) policy with relevant stakeholders that will make roads within the metropolis more public-friendly by paying more attention to other means of movement like motor bikes and bicycles including the disabled ones in the society through the provision of dedicated lanes.
It was against this back drop that the state government through LAMATA recently organised a one-day stakeholders conference in collaboration with facilitators drawn from the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP)- ‘Share the Road Global Program’ in partnership and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), all based in Nairobi, Kenya with the theme; Empowering Pedestrians and Cyclists for a Better City to ratify the policy.
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The main objectives of the UNEP-ITDP facilitated stakeholder conference was to promote importance of NMT policy with decision makers, demonstrate that Lagos state is going to prioritize investment in Non-Motorised Transport (NMT), share the draft policy and agree on next steps and action plan, discuss budgetary allocation as well as state wide network.
While the meeting lasted, the panel debate was centred on; ‘Roads create congestion, they don’t solve it’. The panellists debated on problems confronting urban congestion and workable non-motorized model to adopt for the city of Lagos, exploring best practices in travel demand management.
They were drawn from the ITDP Africa, UN Environment, LAMATA, Ministry of Transport (MoT), Ministry of Works (MoW) , Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and the private sector. They all agreed to the current trend that after decades of building roads, congestion has remained at an all-time high and concluded that indeed it is time to think outside the box and take a new approach to dealing with congestion in the city.
One point of convergence was the understanding to pay more attention from prioritizing movement of cars to prioritizing movement of people in Lagos through systematic investment in NMT policy and infrastructure development.
The draft policy was prepared with inputs from key stakeholder Ministries, Departments and Agencies which provided relevant cross-sectional public transport data and information about existing plans, policies, regulations, institutional and financial arrangements that impact the walking and cycling environment in Lagos State. Prior to the conference, professional comments on the draft policy by key stakeholders were collated in readiness for deliberations.
According to sources, the overall objective of the stakeholder conference was to reach an agreement and consensus on the final draft to be presented to the Lagos State Executive Council (EXCO) for consideration and approval, and ultimately the Lagos State House of Assembly (LAHA) for legislation and passage into law.
MIKE OCHONMA
