If you wake up at five o’clock a.m. to make sure you beat traffic in Nairobi, and be at work on time, my friend! there is a fellow in Lagos who is waking up at three o’clock a.m., to beat the same.
I used to think that Nairobi has the worst traffic problems, until I learnt about Lagos traffic status on their roads. I was comforted. Lagos traffic makes Nairobi traffic glitches look rather small.
let’s look at the numbers so as to understand the differences better. Lagos has 21 million people living there, 3 million cars everyday move in and out of Lagos. Nairobi has 3.5 million people living in the city while other 7 million people from other counties pass through Nairobi. The difference is quite huge, and if you happen to be in Lagos, then you will appreciate the traffic conditions in Nairobi.
In terms of loses, sh. 50 Million is lost every day due to traffic in Nairobi. In an estimate of billion is lost in common daily 3 hr traffic every year.
It is very rare to find traffic police controlling traffic on Sundays but in Lagos a Sunday is busy as any other day of the week with many vehicles flowing in and out of the city.see here.
Residents claim that they have to be up by 3 a.m. or 4 o’clock a.am to avoid the –go-slow snarl up which begins as early as 5.am in the morning. Some resolve to use the waterway to avoid traffic.
The ministry of transport is working tirelessly to reduce the menace by introducing the Rapid Bus Transit system. their RMT train is also under construction, and as Kenyans wait eagerly for the 2022 General elections, ” Nigerians” are eagerly waiting for the RMT.
Nairobi is also launching the BRT system as the first bunch of BRT buses arrives this month. There is hope!