Danne Institute hosts webinar on Connectivity and Productivity, Links Traffic Jams to Loss of Labour Productivity in Lagos
We hosted the first edition of the Transport and Traffic Conference titled “Connectivity and Productivity in Lagos Megacity”. The webinar, which held on Thursday, February 04, 2021, from 10 am to 12 pm, was organized in partnership with BusinessDay, Nigeria’s foremost business newspaper.
The conference was aimed at catalysing discussions around the opportunities and risks facing Lagos if the megacity’s connectivity challenges are not addressed and the imperative of using research-based solutions in the concerted efforts directed at solving the perennial traffic problems.
“Lagos is overwhelmed with congestion, mobility challenges, high commuting costs, and inadequate infrastructure. One report states that three of every ten years spent in Lagos is lost to traffic congestion.”
Speaking about the webinar and what it seeks to achieve, the Founder and Executive Director of Danne Institute for Research, Professor Franca Ovadje, said, “Lagos is overwhelmed with congestion, mobility challenges, high commuting costs, and inadequate infrastructure. One report states that three of every ten years spent in Lagos is lost to traffic congestion. At this Dialogue, Danne Institute for Research will present findings of its research on connectivity and productivity. Results of the study conducted by Financial Derivatives Company in collaboration with Danne Institute on the economic costs of traffic congestion in the megacity will also be presented. This novel research has implications for individuals, businesses and the Lagos State Government.”
“More than eight million people move in five million vehicles on a tiny road network of 9,204 roads, including two tollways and three bridges linking the mainland to the island.”
We launched the Connectivity and Productivity report on the same day. The Report states that traffic jams are still a regular sight in Lagos despite the state spending approximately 38 percent of its budget in the last two decades on infrastructure, building roads and bridges, and revamping the public transport system. The study on the cost of traffic congestion which was done in conjunction with Financial Derivatives Company is novel in the sense that it estimates the economic costs of traffic congestion to individuals and businesses in Lagos, a city where “more than eight million people move in five million vehicles on a tiny road network of 9,204 roads, including two tollways and three bridges linking the mainland to the island.”
The editor of BusinessDay Newspaper, Tayo Fagbule, moderated the webinar while Professor Franca Ovadje was the keynote speaker. Other subject matter experts on the discussion panel were Toki Mobogunje, President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), Wale Adediran, President, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) and Joseph Agunbiade, Co-Founder, BudgIT.
