By Charles Adingupu
Again, Lagosians are now convinced more than ever before to believe that the state Governor, Mr. Raji Babatunde Fashola appears in a hurry to make a New York city out of Lagos.

While the huge dust generated over the recent demolition of Makoko, and other peasant residential areas are yet to settle, the governor and his team reeled out ambiguous road traffic laws ostensibly designed to push the average poor man out of Lagos.

Gov. Fashola

Since the laws were made public last week, divergent opinions have continued to trail the reason behind them. But for the teeming masses, it is one law too many.

However, a blow by blow analysis of these laws showed that good though they seem, they lack human face. But that is not the thrust of the governor’s  motive who at all cost seems battle ready to create a sane city in our insane society irrespective of whose ox is gored.

His words: “Those who are ready to live with the realities and the complexities of our state are welcome and those who can’t should stay away.”

However, a panoramic view of these laws need much to be desired. The popular aphorism which states that laws are made for man but not man for the law does not hold sway in the ideology behind the promulgation of such laws.

Among the recent different laws, which specify penalties for driving unregistered, unlicensed vehicles or vehicles without valid identification marks, an offence which attracts a fine of N20,000 for first offenders and N30,000 or three months imprisonment for both for subsequent offences.

A critical appraisal of this law, showed that it will help to check the menace of kidnappers, armed robbers and other dangerous vices that commuters are exposed to on daily basis. But it will no doubt force the already jobless Nigerians who eke out a living on the usual kabu-kabu to become another menace to the society.

The poor woman who supports her family with the meagre income she rakes in on daily basis from the sale of cigarettes, soft drinks and even agbo will now settle for another new business she is yet to define.

Not done yet, the Governor in his wisdom threatened those who beg or solicit for alms or engage in cleaning windscreen on Lagos roads. This aspect of the law has provoked Lagos beggars who stormed the Governor’s office recently. For the Lagos street boys who depend solely on cleaning of windscreen of vehicles on Lagos roads, perhaps, they have to search for  alternative that the sprawling city of Lagos may not provide.

In a similar vein, the average traders who cannot afford the high cost of renting a stall in Lagos market have been given a quit order from Lagos as it’s now an offence to display wares on walkways or engage in hawking in traffic.

Conversely, the most applauded of the laws remain that which bars members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) from engaging in illegal extortion of money from bus drivers at bus stops and highways in Lagos.

While many Lagosians believed that this law will help to address the frequent traffic gridlock that commuters experience on daily basis, others fear that this development will swell the ranks of armed robbers as many of these area boys otherwise known as agberos will be thrown out of jobs.

They posited that the frequent cases of bank robbery is born out of the not too recent mass sack workers by the various affected banks following the policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

For them, agberos are not the main cause of traffic jam in Lagos but the deteriorating state of our roads.

Most roads and even highways in Lagos are riddled with pot holes and deep gullies while some areas have been cut off completely. Perhaps, Governor Fashola has perfected plans to recruit more LASMA officials who are partially responsibly for the traffic snarl in Lagos.

It may not be out of context to state that certain considerations must be taken before laws are implemented if such laws must bite and not bark.