No Political Will To Deal With Agberos In Lagos, Says NDC’s Funsho Doherty

The governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Lagos State, Funsho Doherty, has blamed the persistence of the agbero system in the state on a lack of political will by successive administrations to reform the transport sector.

Agberos are transport touts who collect money from commercial bus drivers and other transport operators at motor parks, bus stops and along roads, often claiming to represent transport unions or park authorities.

Speaking during the Lagos Governorship Debate on Sunday, Doherty said powerful interests within the existing transport system had made it difficult for successive governments to tackle the activities of the operators.

The debate was organised by the Nigeria Debate Consortium, a coalition of five media organisations: The PUNCH, Channels Television, TVC News, TheCable and Vanguard Newspapers.

“Many of us understand this notion of the agbero system that people talk about. There is no political will to deal with that problem,” Doherty said.

He argued that meaningful reform of public transportation would require a government that was accountable to residents rather than interests benefiting from the existing arrangement.

“We will modernise the transportation system because we will be elected by the people, not by an agbero network,” he said.