Funso Doherty, the Lagos governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has accused the state government of failing to demonstrate the political commitment needed to eliminate street touts, popularly called agberos.
Doherty made the allegation on Sunday during a governorship debate in Lagos, where he faulted the slow pace of efforts to reform the state’s public transportation system.
He argued that vested interests were preventing the government from replacing the existing transport arrangement with a modern and efficient system.
According to him, thousands of poorly maintained buses still operate across the state, despite the need for improved public transportation that meets residents’ expectations.
“Our public transportation system is not modernised. Thousands of rickety buses are moving around,” he said.
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We must ask ourselves: are these what our people deserve? Why has it taken so long to modernise public transportation?”
The NDC candidate maintained that the continued reliance on small buses was not accidental, alleging that certain interests benefited from the current arrangement.
“In my opinion, the lack of a modern transportation system is not by accident. There are vested interests in operating the bus system the way it is,” the governorship candidate said.
“Many small buses are chaoticatically operated because there is an ecosystem around it.
“Many of us understand this notion of the agbero system that people talk about. There is no political will to deal with that problem.”