Oh! It’s six am. And I’m already late for work. I quickly said a little prayer and scurried to the bathroom. Unfortunately, I was not the only one who was late for work, I and my elder sister made a dash for the bathroom but she outran me, so I decided to engage myself in other activities.By the time I was through with all the female wahala, it was seven forty-five, and I had to resume in the office by nine. I dashed out of the house with the speed of a superwoman, heading for the bus-stop which was few blocks away from my house.
Before I got to the bus-stop, I encountered a scenario. A bus driver was badly beaten by two touts. As always, the attitude of Nigerians is just to pass by and do nothing, I stood and stared like a good citizen of my country.
The driver tried to dodge his opponent blows and at the same time, justifying his actions. One of the touts held a bottle of the local gin in his right hand while tugging the driver by his collar.
“Why you stop here carry passengers?” asked the tout.
“No mind am. And u get mouth to talk. Don’t worry by the time the chairman deals with you, you go know.” said his colleague.
After much squabble, the driver was asked to pay a fine of a thousand naira to avoid the wrath of the chairman, which he declined. Meanwhile the commuters sat down comfortably in the bus, absolutely enjoying the drama. When the driver obstinately refused to agree to the touts’ terms, they took the gauge of his engine oil. He began to shout at them to return it but they paid him no attention.
One of the commuters, who was obviously late to work alighted from the bus and demanded for his money from the fuming driver. The driver just looked at him rudely, muttered something and went after the touts. The commuter chased after him, raining curses on him, still demanding for his money. Seeing the chaos, other commuters in the bus decided to add more fuel to the burning fire. The driver was torn between the touts and his passengers.
Sadly, I had to go to work. I never knew how they settled the dispute.
It’s quite funny how the transportation system operates in Lagos state. We lack effective traffic regulations and officers to see to the full implementation of the provided laws.
No doubt, the driver was at fault, there was a “No parking” sign in front of him, yet he deliberately stopped there to pick up a passenger. But the question now is: Are touts the authorized officials to penalize the offenders of these laws? What exactly are the roles of touts on our roads and bus stops? Ever since their emergence into the transportation sector, I can’t really see their effectiveness. Secondly, does breaking of such laws require physical abuse? Do we use violence to solve cases like this? Nigerians lack human compassion. It was quite disheartening to watch a fellow human being manhandled unjustly and yet do nothing about it. What happened to the saying ‘be your brother’s keeper.”
There should be effective traffic laws and officers to ensure that these laws are not broken and when they are, there should be punishment such as withdrawal of driving license or probably, the drivers should be sent to a driver’s institute. But not physically abused. We should as well look into the touts influence on our roads. Their role should be clearly defined and if they should cross the boundary, they should be reprimanded. In United States of America, there is a Good Samaritan policy which states that individuals should be able to help each other in times of danger unless lives are being threatened. Though in a city like Lagos state, this might be difficult to achieve, but it won’t hurt if we give it a try.
Luckily for me, I made it to work on time
Before I got to the bus-stop, I encountered a scenario. A bus driver was badly beaten by two touts. As always, the attitude of Nigerians is just to pass by and do nothing, I stood and stared like a good citizen of my country.
The driver tried to dodge his opponent blows and at the same time, justifying his actions. One of the touts held a bottle of the local gin in his right hand while tugging the driver by his collar.
“Why you stop here carry passengers?” asked the tout.
“No mind am. And u get mouth to talk. Don’t worry by the time the chairman deals with you, you go know.” said his colleague.
After much squabble, the driver was asked to pay a fine of a thousand naira to avoid the wrath of the chairman, which he declined. Meanwhile the commuters sat down comfortably in the bus, absolutely enjoying the drama. When the driver obstinately refused to agree to the touts’ terms, they took the gauge of his engine oil. He began to shout at them to return it but they paid him no attention.
One of the commuters, who was obviously late to work alighted from the bus and demanded for his money from the fuming driver. The driver just looked at him rudely, muttered something and went after the touts. The commuter chased after him, raining curses on him, still demanding for his money. Seeing the chaos, other commuters in the bus decided to add more fuel to the burning fire. The driver was torn between the touts and his passengers.
Sadly, I had to go to work. I never knew how they settled the dispute.
It’s quite funny how the transportation system operates in Lagos state. We lack effective traffic regulations and officers to see to the full implementation of the provided laws.
No doubt, the driver was at fault, there was a “No parking” sign in front of him, yet he deliberately stopped there to pick up a passenger. But the question now is: Are touts the authorized officials to penalize the offenders of these laws? What exactly are the roles of touts on our roads and bus stops? Ever since their emergence into the transportation sector, I can’t really see their effectiveness. Secondly, does breaking of such laws require physical abuse? Do we use violence to solve cases like this? Nigerians lack human compassion. It was quite disheartening to watch a fellow human being manhandled unjustly and yet do nothing about it. What happened to the saying ‘be your brother’s keeper.”
There should be effective traffic laws and officers to ensure that these laws are not broken and when they are, there should be punishment such as withdrawal of driving license or probably, the drivers should be sent to a driver’s institute. But not physically abused. We should as well look into the touts influence on our roads. Their role should be clearly defined and if they should cross the boundary, they should be reprimanded. In United States of America, there is a Good Samaritan policy which states that individuals should be able to help each other in times of danger unless lives are being threatened. Though in a city like Lagos state, this might be difficult to achieve, but it won’t hurt if we give it a try.
Luckily for me, I made it to work on time
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