The news was greeted with a lot of pomp and fanfare. Early 2017, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode introduced the Bus Reform Initiative, an ambitious three-year plan aimed at introducing over 5,000 air-conditioned buses to replace the regime of Danfo buses in Lagos. Ambode said the Danfo buses, which are mostly old rickety, no longer befit the state’s mega city status.
In line with this resolve to overhaul the state’s commercial transport network, the state government further announced that the ubiquitous, scruffy-looking bus conductors would start wearing uniforms from January 2018.
A top society lady allegedly nicked the mouth-watering deal to produce all the new uniforms for commercial bus drivers and conductors. However, as the date for the take-off of the bus reform scheme approaches, events around the governor may have put the whole plans in jeopardy. You would recall that the governor was denied a second term ticket by the All Progressives Congress, APC, leadership in the state.
Thus, some of Ambode’s inner caucus members and concerned citizens are understandably concerned that some of his laudable projects may be discontinued and discarded by the incoming administration. Perhaps to allay such fears, Governor Ambode caused a statement to be issued wherein he assured that the APC governorship candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, would not abandon pending projects. He gave this assurance while inaugurating an ultra-modern lecture theatre donated to the Lagos State University (LASU) by businessman and philanthropist, Remi Makanjuola, recently.
