By Nnamdi Odumody

Owing to the inadequacy of public transportation systems in Lagos State, provided by BRT and NURTW, the previous administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode conceived the Lagos Bus Services, a key component of the Lagos Bus Reform Project which will provide smart public transportation infrastructure to transform the commuters’ experiences in line with modern demands of smart cities. About one million commuters use the public transportation system in Lagos daily; the vehicles used in this system are supplied by both government and private entities.

The Lagos Bus Services is to provide an efficient alternative to the unregulated NURTW yellow buses, ride hailing taxis and the BRT. It will provide electronic ticketing to ensure prompt boarding of passengers and revenue protection from sharp practices as well as reducing the waiting time at bus stations. Its drivers and attendants will be trained and certified to offer passengers the best riding experience with safety and security guaranteed.

Lagos Bus Services Limited (LBSL) was incorporated on 1^st August 2016 as a Transport Asset Acquisition, Operations, and Advisory Services Company to provide a much-needed compass and guide to the operation of Bus Services in Lagos.

As Lagos evolves into a smart city, LBSL is positioned to create a very competitive space in the Transport Industry where urban mobility guarantees a market for mass transit transport operators; with availability and pricing as key decision drivers.  LBSL is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the orderliness, proper coordination and progress of the Transport Industry in Lagos.

The buses will have special sitting areas for the physically challenged, aged and pregnant women providing inclusion in public transportation services which is non-existent in Nigeria and has six emergency exits, first aid kit, free Wi-fi, inbuilt television, CCTV cameras connected to a remote operations centre which will monitor each activity which takes place. Also, it has USB charging ports on all the seats.

Its operations will be anchored through an Intelligent Transport System which will provide real time information to passengers such as estimated time of bus arrival and departure times as well as nature and cause of service delays.

The buses will be leased to reputable private bus operators who will use 3 smart depots located at Anthony Village, Ilupeju and Yaba for proper deployment, sustainability and maintenance while they will run special routes with smooth operational infrastructure such as bus shelters, laybys, bus flags, terminals and depots at strategic points along these routes.

The Lagos transportation paralysis will in no time become a thing of the past if the vision and mission behind the Lagos Bus Services is sustained irrespective of whoever mounts the saddle as Chief Executive of the state as it is essential in making the state a 21^st Century Intelligent Economy.

The greatest mistake is over-fixation on past mistakes. Learn from your mistakes, make amends, and never allow them to define your state of mind. The best American Football quarterbacks are those without “memories”. Yes, they simply forget the last bad play, for a great new play even though they have learnt from that broken down series. Across human history, more empires have been built and won through optimism than pessimism. You make the mistakes, and mistakes must never be your boss; put them where they belong: learn and forget past mistakes.

Education is the liberation of the mind. The most important use was captured by University of Nigeria Nsukka many decades ago: “to restore the dignity of man” [and woman]. Largely, unless you develop a mindset of service, the education is a waste; that service can be at work, home, or practically anywhere. When 55% of Nigerian youth have no jobs, it means we have not restored the dignity of our young people.

You have a gift – make it flourish. But that gift is possibly different from your friends’ gifts. Honour those friends, and be inspired by them, but do not lose focus on what you can do best. To make progress in life, find ways to blossom on your gifts.

In secondary school, I was the dean in classroom – the undisputed onwu n’egbu akwukwo [the death that kills books]. (At least, as of today, my grades in SSCE remain all-time in the school history.)

But I was nobody on the football field. The school captain was my friend – he was always playing football and learning new dribbling moves. He was getting better. I decided to also spend more time reading to get better in my own domain.

He was a captain on the pitch. I was captain in the classroom. When our teacher does not make it to school, I take over and teach the class to my classmates. My friend did that many times on the pitch.  You must do all necessary to be inspired by the right people but at the same time do not lose focus on what makes you different.

That your friend’s startup raised venture money does not mean you need to leave your banking job to startup a company. Possibly, your gift is running what others have started while your friend is just good on starting things. Unless you have confidence in your vision, you will be rolling around, aimlessly to be like others, and that is a bad thing.

When farmers go on demonstrations asking governments for food [they are hungry], it means we have not restored the dignity of farmers. When our women die needlessly in unlicensed clinics, it means we have not restored the dignity of the mothers of the nation. When we have people struggling with certain disabilities when solutions abound, it means we have not restored the dignity of our fellow citizens with disabilities.

We need service in Nigeria at scale.

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Unfortunately, we haven’t managed to understand and internalize the meaning and purpose of education. And just like in many other things, we thought we could succeed by bypassing education, in our usual way of trying to cut corners and still wish/hope for the best. This one has proven to be impossible, we simply cannot bypass handing to our compatriots that education, the type that truly liberates minds!

It takes a sound mind in a sound body to have a sound man or woman, no other manipulation, incantation or abracadabra can change that.

As if being clueless isn’t terrible enough, we somehow managed to mix it with ineptitude. Nothing is going to work well, until we aggressively liberate minds; the dignity seems not to be in existence in the first place, so the issue of ‘restoring’ it even makes what is before us more complicated.

Even if we build the finest physical infrastructures, with rotten minds, you only have decay staring at you. The national rebirth must start with education, nothing else can be meaningful.