The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) governorship candidate in Lagos, Funso Doherty, has said street louts popularly known as agberos are part of the challenges facing the state’s public transportation sector.
Naija News reports that Doherty, while speaking on Sunday during a governorship debate in Lagos, said vested interests are frustrating efforts to modernise the state’s public transportation system.
Doherty pointed out that the state still relies on thousands of rickety buses despite the need for a modern, efficient public transport system.
Questioning why successive efforts to modernise public transportation in the state have taken so long, Doherty said residents deserve a better transport system.
According to Doherty, many small buses are chaotically operated because of the agbero system, adding that the state government lacks the political will to eradicate them.
He said, “Our public transportation system is not modernised. Thousands of rickety buses are moving around.
“We must ask ourselves: are these what our people deserve? Why has it taken so long to modernise public transportation?
“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.
“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.”
