Traffic Gridlock, Crime Rate Pose Major Concerns for Lagosians- NoIPolls

Latest study has revealed that severe traffic gridlock and heightened crime rate have now become the major sources of concern to the residents of Nigeria's commercial city of Lagos, since Governor Akinwunmi Ambode assumed office in May 2015.

The recent collaborative poll between BusinessDay Media and NOIPolls Limited, shows, specifically, Lagosians have identified these issues to include the Severe traffic gridlock across the metropolis (26 percent), Bad Roads (22 percent), Poor Power Supply (14 percent), and Heightened insecurity (8 percent), with an upsurge in the activities of armed robbers, area boys, touts, pick-pockets and petty criminals; as issues affecting their daily lives and raising serious concerns.

Consequently, some Lagosians who participated in the poll identified the following areas for the Governor to focus his attention over the next six months: Improving road networks (36 percent), Creating job opportunities (12 percent), Improving power supply (12 percent), Improving traffic control & management (10 percent), and Improving state security (eradicating touts & area boys) (8 percent) amongst others.

An evaluation of the performance of Governor Ambode revealed that a larger proportion of almost 4 in 10 Lagosians (38 percent) were indifferent about his performance owning to the issues identified above. On the other hand, 36 percent of the respondents expressed their satisfaction over his performance, while 26 percent expressed outright dissatisfaction. Furthermore, 6 in 10 Lagosians rated the Governor ‘poorly’ in terms of ‘Road infrastructure’ (60 percent), with further poor ratings in ‘Economic situation’ (58 percent), ‘Traffic management’ (54 percent), ‘Education’ (42 percent) and the ‘security of lives and properties’ (41 percent).

Worth of note is a portion of the study that while almost 4 in 10 Lagosians are currently indifferent about the governor's performance, this perception could swing in or against his favour, depending on how well Governor Ambode moves to manage the state and address these critical issues; particularly the severe traffic gridlock across the metropolis and the heightened crime rate, which has witnessed the re-emergence of area boys, armed robbers, petty criminals & traffic lawlessness.

These were some key findings from the Lagos State Governance poll conducted in the week of 19th October 2015, as the details of the study can be found on NoIPolls website.