Lagos Traffic Is an Economic Policy Failure Not a City Planning Problem

Lagos traffic is not a city planning problem. It is an economic policy failure that has been misdiagnosed for forty years.

City planners are blamed for the chaos of Lagos roads. But the root cause is not too many roads or too few flyovers. It is the concentration of 80 percent of Nigeria’s formal economic activity in a corridor measuring approximately 50 kilometres by 20 kilometres, occupied by 22 million people.

Lagos is congested because it is the only place in Nigeria where business can be done at scale, justice can be accessed reliably, infrastructure works tolerably and contracts are enforced.

Build the Blue Line. Build the Yellow Line. Build all the rail lines. They will help. But they will not cure a disease whose cause is not transport. It is political economy.

Written by

Chisom Adaeze