The governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Lagos State, Funso Doherty, has declared that his political ambition is dependent on the support of Lagos residents rather than the influence of informal transport operators popularly known as agberos.
Doherty made the declaration on Friday during the Lagos governorship debate organised by the Nigeria Debate Consortium, comprising Channels Television, TVC News, The PUNCH, TheCable and Vanguard.
He criticised the state’s public transportation system, describing the continued operation of thousands of ageing commercial buses as evidence of the failure of successive administrations to modernise the sector.
The NDC candidate questioned why Lagos, despite its economic importance and population, had yet to achieve a comprehensive transformation of its public transportation system.
“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?” he asked.
Doherty attributed the slow pace of reform to what he described as vested interests benefiting from the existing transport arrangement.
He specifically pointed to the influence of the agbero system, alleging that an entrenched network of interests had made it difficult for successive governments to implement meaningful reforms.
“In my opinion, the lack of modern transportation is not by accident. There are vested interests in operating the bus system the way it is. Many of us understand the agbero system; there is an ecosystem around it, and there is no political will to deal with that problem,” he said.
The governorship hopeful pledged to overhaul public transportation in Lagos if elected, promising to prioritise the interests of residents over those of powerful informal transport networks.
He maintained that his administration would have the political independence to implement the necessary reforms because its mandate would come from the electorate.
“We would modernise public transportation because we would be elected by the people and not by the agbero network,” Doherty added.
His comments placed transportation reform and the influence of informal operators among the key issues raised during the governorship debate.
