Lagos plans 2,000 LASTMA officers for Detty December

The Lagos State Ministry of Transportation has disclosed that at least 22 officers of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority died in 2025 while carrying out their official duties.

The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Olawale Musa, disclosed this during the 2026 Media Parley organised by the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation held in Lagos, where transportation officials reviewed road safety challenges and outlined plans to improve mobility across the state.

Musa acknowledged the difficult nature of traffic management in Lagos, noting that LASTMA officers frequently operate in challenging circumstances while responding to incidents and managing crisis on the roads.

“LASTMA lost at least 22 staff last year. With the kind of society and people we are, there is no way one won’t have a crisis to manage. To manage a crisis is not an easy task, and that is why I must thank our information officers and press corps here. They have been very supportive,” he said.

Meanwhile, the General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, disclosed that at least 17 people lost their lives in traffic-related incidents on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, while about 15 others died along the Otedola Bridge-Kara axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway between January 2026 and October.

While presenting an update on the agency’s activities Bakare-Oki, said LASTMA recorded more than “860 traffic-related incidents on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road during the period, resulting in 17 deaths.”

The agency also documented more than 365 incidents along the Otedola Bridge-Kara corridor, with about 15 fatalities.

“You cannot quantify human life,” the LASTMA boss said, emphasising the human cost of road crashes and other traffic incidents.

He further explained that the increasing volume of vehicles on Lagos roads, coupled with the state’s limited landmass, had continued to place significant pressure on the transportation system.

“If you look at Lagos, the geographical location of the state has placed it at a disadvantage in terms of landmass. Out of the total land space in the country, Lagos has less than one per cent, about 0.4 per cent, compared to vehicular intensity in the state.

“Today, Lagos has the highest number of vehicles in the entire stretch of West Africa, to contend with a limited land space.

• Motorists queue for CNG amid high transport fares
• Hamzat banks on Tinubu’s legacy, promises to fix Lagos gaps
• Hamzat to inaugurate UNILAG digital humanities centre

“Our core responsibility is to ensure seamless mobility despite this limitation. Our concentration has been on the major crossing points, especially to reduce the damage on these roads,” he said.

Bakare-Oki further disclosed that the state government and federal authorities had begun examining the causes of road damage along the Otedola Bridge corridor.

He said the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mr Gary, recently led a federal government team, while the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation led the state delegation, to inspect and evaluate the situation.

“This week, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mr Gary, led a team from the federal side, while the Honourable Commissioner for Transport, Lagos, led the Lagos team to re-examine and evaluate the causes of this damage on our roads, and it’s not going to be limited to the Otedola Bridge. With time, there will be an arrangement,” he said.

The LASTMA boss also noted that the agency had expanded its responsibilities beyond traffic control to include road safety advocacy, public engagement and rapid response to traffic incidents.

“Over the years, LASTMA has been able to evolve from a mere traffic control organisation into a sophisticated institution that has focused on road safety, feedback from the public, that is, citizens’ engagement, and quick response to traffic incidents on Lagos roads.

“However, if you notice, there has been an increase in the rate of accidents on certain transit routes in the state,” he said.

Looking ahead to the festive period, Bakare-Oki said LASTMA had developed an enhanced traffic management plan to ease congestion and improve road safety during the annual Detty December celebrations.

He identified Victoria Island, Lekki-Ajah, Surulere and Ikeja as some of the areas that would receive additional personnel because of the expected increase in human and vehicular movement.

“We are deploying over 2,000 personnel to beef up these areas so that people can commute or move freely during the Detty December period,” he said.

According to him, the agency had also mobilised recovery vehicles to strategic locations across the state to ensure that broken-down vehicles and accident scenes could be attended to promptly.