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Commuting in Lagos, for the past 3 weeks, had been horrendous, horrific, hell, horrible, and any other H- Hate word there is.
Commuting in Lagos ordinarily is a lot of headache and hard work, but this particular 3 weeks for me has been tough.
From the large sea of heads at Agric bus stop in Ikorodu ,to running after the bus struggling with 20 people to get in, to the exorbitant bus fare, to the crazy and drunk danfo* drivers, rude conductors ,to the 33 sitting 99 standing molue* blaring its deafening horn,to the unnecessary traffic jam caused by impatient drivers or a pot hole that can swallow a truck, or an accident, or 20 seized trailers going to customs warehouse or nothing at all!!! to the hungry looking policeman swinging his baton or rifle(or any weapon for that matter) and demanding for his “murtala”* right to the over bearing LASTMA* officials, to the slave masters of danfo drivers a.k.a agbero, to the daring Lagos pedestrian who would rather die crossing the expressway than take the overhead bridge and to me the seething commuter wishing I could fly or that a magical chopper will lift me to my destination. Gosh, it is bone tiring!
Now that it December, the festive season, it is worse. The churches are having their end of year conventions(More Traffic),more street traders are emerging taking up all available space on the overhead bridges, pavements, etc.,25 billion people all in the market at once shopping and shoving,pushing and pulling, cars parked on every available space. Huh!
The ruff riders [ okada i.e. ]may seem to beat the Lagos traffic with their many risky maneuverings but not in all cases e.g. FALOMO BRIDGE on a really good hot Friday , when some street in Victoria island is being repaired. Don’t even try to imagine it!
To commute in Lagos, you require special talent, skills, the mind of Dr Xavier of X-men and special prayers.
If I had a car, I am sure I would have knocked down a few police officers, a couple of Lastma officials, agberos, rammed my car to one of foolish bullion vans and may be I would have killed danfo driver.
Owning a car really does not solve the problem because from danfo rider (Lagos commuter) to 4WD car owner, all na the same! We all stuck in traffic, seething, cursing and hoping.
Happy commuting Lagosians, things go better.
*Danfo- small yellow buses with black stripes, Lagos transport bus.
*Murtala- former head of state of Nigeria whose picture is on the 20-naira note.
Commuting in Lagos ordinarily is a lot of headache and hard work, but this particular 3 weeks for me has been tough.
From the large sea of heads at Agric bus stop in Ikorodu ,to running after the bus struggling with 20 people to get in, to the exorbitant bus fare, to the crazy and drunk danfo* drivers, rude conductors ,to the 33 sitting 99 standing molue* blaring its deafening horn,to the unnecessary traffic jam caused by impatient drivers or a pot hole that can swallow a truck, or an accident, or 20 seized trailers going to customs warehouse or nothing at all!!! to the hungry looking policeman swinging his baton or rifle(or any weapon for that matter) and demanding for his “murtala”* right to the over bearing LASTMA* officials, to the slave masters of danfo drivers a.k.a agbero, to the daring Lagos pedestrian who would rather die crossing the expressway than take the overhead bridge and to me the seething commuter wishing I could fly or that a magical chopper will lift me to my destination. Gosh, it is bone tiring!
Now that it December, the festive season, it is worse. The churches are having their end of year conventions(More Traffic),more street traders are emerging taking up all available space on the overhead bridges, pavements, etc.,25 billion people all in the market at once shopping and shoving,pushing and pulling, cars parked on every available space. Huh!
The ruff riders [ okada i.e. ]may seem to beat the Lagos traffic with their many risky maneuverings but not in all cases e.g. FALOMO BRIDGE on a really good hot Friday , when some street in Victoria island is being repaired. Don’t even try to imagine it!
To commute in Lagos, you require special talent, skills, the mind of Dr Xavier of X-men and special prayers.
If I had a car, I am sure I would have knocked down a few police officers, a couple of Lastma officials, agberos, rammed my car to one of foolish bullion vans and may be I would have killed danfo driver.
Owning a car really does not solve the problem because from danfo rider (Lagos commuter) to 4WD car owner, all na the same! We all stuck in traffic, seething, cursing and hoping.
Happy commuting Lagosians, things go better.
*Danfo- small yellow buses with black stripes, Lagos transport bus.
*Murtala- former head of state of Nigeria whose picture is on the 20-naira note.
*Molue- Big yellow buses with black stripes and plenty graffti.
*LASTMA- Agency in charge of traffic in Lagos.
4 comments:
I did appreciate the fact that i logged on to dis blog wen i was really stressed up @ work. Reading the article did relief me of some tension cos i had to laugh it off. Pls keep it cos people like us need it.
traffic in the past few weeks have been indeed crazy,atimes i wish i could just close my eyes, raise my legs and appear at my destination.
but dear, since wishes arent horses, i go through this everyday and get home exhausted and to add insult to injury, the power holders would be cruelly holding the electricity!
@ anon
Thanks for logging on I am glad you like it,it is my first blogging experience.
@Shola,
I guess it getting worse by day now compounded with the Fuel scarity. PHCN is another sad story,lets leave it.
hi,think u re doing somtin great dere,its rily nice goin thru ur blog.neva let pple undaestimate wat u can do.kip it up. Tolu
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