LASG Seeks Assembly’s Nod for New Transport Policy

The Lagos State Government is seeking the support of the state House of Assembly for the implementation of its new transport programme tagged Bus Industry Transition Programme.

The BITP is an initiative aimed at creating a policy framework to restructure the existing bus industry and develop a new business model that incorporates existing bus operators and their routes into future Quality Bus Corridors, a statement by the Assembly said on Sunday.

This initiative is being carried out by the Lagos State Government through the Ministry of Transportation and the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority in collaboration with other stakeholders.

Speaking during a familiarisation meeting with the Lagos State House of Assembly’s Committee on Transportation headed by Adewale Adedeji, the Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Oluwaseun Osiyemi, stressed that the initiative would curb “the unscrupulous activities associated with the yellow commercial buses.”

“The BITP is something that Lagosians should embrace. It is a 3-year model plan whereby we are planning to migrate the informal sector and marry them to the formal sector. We all know the madness associated with our yellow buses.

“We are involving the transport unions to reassure them that we are not yanking off whatever it is that they are doing. We are only formalising the sector in such a way that we will have an efficient transportation system and build the kind of mega city that we crave,” he said.

Speaking on the roles of the Assembly, the commissioner said that the legislature, of course, had lots of roles to play in what the government was doing because the lawmakers were the ones that coordinate and assist in the areas of forming policies and rules and in situations when there was need to get budget, planning, and funding right.