Bello Fatai, a lollipop man, wakes up every morning to help school children cross the road at Olusosun in the Ojota area of Lagos State.
Fatai has spent the last six years doing this job. He wears a smile on his face helping school children to cross the busy road while maintaining strict caution against unruly drivers. From helping pupils to cross, Fatai has earned a new name as people fondly call him “baba omo weere”, which means “father of the little children” in the Yoruba language.
His point of duty is in front of the Olusosun Primary School at Kudirat Abiola Way, Ojota, where there is a zebra crossing. Thanks to him, school children have crossed the road without any significant incident, he told FIJ on October 9.
But the job has been made particularly risky and challenging over the years by drivers’ disregard for the pedestrian right of way directly opposite the school gate, even when children are the pedestrians.
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Fatai Bello guiding school children to cross the road. VIDEO CREDIT: Sodeeq Atanda/FIJ.
The issue is the same on other city roads FIJ observed; drivers do not yield the right of way to pedestrians.
DOES ZEBRA CROSSING HAVE ANY MEANING TO DRIVERS?
Zebra crossing is a road mark with broad white stripes similar to a zebra’s stripes, indicating a safe place where drivers are mandated to give pedestrians a right of way to cross the road.
In other words, drivers must bring their vehicles to a halt and allow pedestrians to walk on the zebra crossing whenever they wish to move across the road.
To many drivers, Fatai said, the crossing sign was a mere decoration with no safety value. City transporters were particularly stubborn, driving full throttle on both sides of the road even when tens of students had gathered to cross to the other side.
To help school children cross the road, Fatai holds a short stick with a red cloth tied to its pointed end. This serves as a tool to signal speeding vehicles to come to a halt. Despite this strategy, FIJ’s week-long observation showed that most drivers refused to obey the zebra crossing to allow school children to cross the road.
A zebra crossing in front of Triplecross High School on Wemco Road, Ogba, Ikeja. PHOTO CREDIT: Sodeeq Atanda/FIJ.
“If they [drivers] don’t stop completely, we don’t cross,” Fatai said.
“I have educated and warned the students that they must not cross the road unless I direct them to do so. In case I have to quickly use the restroom, they have to wait until I come back.
“But I sometimes have a challenge with newly enrolled pupils who are not familiar with how to cross the road. Last week, a small boy sustained a minor injury after a tricyclist knocked him down here. I hope the government will install a bump here to control vehicle speed.
“If you ask me, about 5% out of 100% of drivers do not flout the zebra crossing rule. And I have observed that these 5% are mostly educated people who probably have international exposure. The rest are rude and careless. Some drivers would even yell at me; is this a football field? Out of impatience, a vehicle could stop for us to cross, but it could be bashed from the rear by another impatient vehicle. This happens a lot of times.”
Zebra crossings are available on many inner city roads at various intersections in Lagos, one of Africa’s most populated cities. From Ojota Garage to the intersection leading to Opebi Bus Stop, FIJ saw three zebra crossings on the road. From Salvation Bus Stop to Allen Avenue in Ikeja, there were at least six zebra crossings.
In Ogba in the Ojodu Local Council Development Area, several road crossings were available. Although not many people attempted to cross the road on these spots, roadside traders told FIJ in separate interviews that drivers had never purposely stopped to allow them to cross whenever they wanted to.
“Even if 100 pedestrians stand there [pointing to a zebra crossing near her food stand], no vehicle would stop. Anyone who thinks drivers will stop for them to use a zebra crossing here is under an illusion. One has to wait until there is no vehicle close by before one can cross,” said Grace Ejikemi, a food vendor opposite the Lagos State Government Staff Housing Board’s fenced land in Ogba, on October 15.
Michael Bankole, a parking attendant in front of Alhaja Habibatu Mogaji Day and Sunday Market located in Ogba, supported Ejikemi’s claim, saying, “If I am to quantify how many drivers obey zebra crossings, I would say only 3% out of 100% do. They really don’t care.”
For Bankole and Fatai, a minute 3% to 5% of the driving population care about and obey the zebra crossing in a city with an estimated 24 million people.
DATA ON PEDESTRIAN DEATHS
While specific data on road crashes involving pedestrians in Nigeria are hard to come by, global statistics showed that pedestrians account for 21% of road deaths, most of which occur in middle to lower-income countries.
A young hawker runs to cross the road at a zebra crossing at Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos State, on October 15. PHOTO CREDIT: Sodeeq Atanda/FIJ.
From January to June 2024, said the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), 9,370 drivers were arrested and fined for various traffic violations. Adebayo Taofiq, LASTMA spokesperson, did not respond to FIJ’s request for data about pedestrian accidents.
In trying to profile pedestrian deaths in the city, Babatunde Solagberu, a professor of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery at Lagos State University, and six other scholars collated data of 214 pedestrians from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital’s emergency room in 2018. The data collection lasted three months.
The result of their findings showed that the peak age range of the injured and dead pedestrians was 21 to 30 years, and 22.9% of these were students. Of the total patients sampled, a significant 55.1% were knocked down crossing the road.
“Pedestrians were injured on highways (55.6%), in the inner city (42.1%) — knocked down while crossing (55.1%), walking by pavement (21.5%), standing by [the] bus stop (10.7%), at home-area (6.1%) and others (6.5%). Regions injured mostly were the head (39.3%), lower limb (30.4%) and multiple regions (15%),” the study revealed.
“Patients were brought by relatives 43.0%, bystanders 29.3%, self 13.1%, ambulance 5.2%, and police 5.6%. Fifty-nine of the 80 lower limb injuries were fractures (73.8%). Twenty-eight patients (13.1%) died, 10 of them brought-in-dead while 64 patients (29.9%) were transferred to another hospital.”
Generally, the study showed that 28 in 150 pedestrians died, representing one in five injured pedestrians. “This could be one of the highest pedestrian death rates in the world; profile strongly emphasises continuous need for injury prevention by all stakeholders,” the study stated.
The knowledge and importance of zebra crossing seem not to be lost on some drivers, particularly taxi drivers, yet they rampantly disregard it.
According to Sulaiman Ajibade, a taxi driver shuttling between Ojota and Agege, drivers were of different characters; some would choose to slow down when approaching a crossing point while some would not.
Stating that the zebra crossing was important to reduce traffic crashes, the taxi driver said it was necessary to educate drivers and pedestrians. “Some pedestrians don’t know how to use zebra crossings. They would see a zebra crossing and leave it to cross on another spot where they would run across the road to avoid being knocked down by a speeding vehicle,” Ajibade said.
ZEBRA CROSSING REGULATION
Year after year, approximately 1.19 million people die and about 20 to 50 million sustain non-fatal injuries from road traffic crashes. Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists constitute the highest number of victims, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
An illustrative image of passengers crossing at a zebra crossing. Source: Federal Road Safety Commission.
“Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5–29. Yet two-thirds of road traffic fatalities occur among people of working age (18–59 years). Nine in 10 fatalities on the roads occur in low and middle-income countries, even though these countries have around 60% of the world’s vehicles,” WHO said.
Consequently, nations make laws and invest in road engineering to secure lives. In Lagos State, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) enforces the Lagos State Traffic Sector Reform Law 2022.
According to the regulation, failure to yield the right of way of pedestrians at zebra crossings attracts a fine of N20,000 for a first-time offender and N30,000 for an offender with a history of the same offence.
LASTMA’S RESPONSE
When contacted for comment, Adebayo Taofiq, the LASTMA spokesperson, said the agency was taking action to enforce the law.
“The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has been taking several steps to protect and enforce zebra crossings across Lagos, aiming to improve pedestrian safety and foster a more organised road system,” Taofiq said on October 21.
“Such steps included public awareness campaigns, traffic regulation enforcement, deployment of officers to road intersections and collaboration with schools and communities.
“LASTMA regularly conducts awareness programmes to educate motorists and pedestrians about the importance of zebra crossings. These campaigns, which include media advertisements, social media engagement, and community outreach, emphasise the need for drivers to stop and give right of way to pedestrians at designated zebra crossings,” said LASTMA.
“These combined efforts aim to reduce accidents involving pedestrians and create a safer environment on Lagos roads.”
EXPERT’S INSIGHTS
While there are not enough road safety signs in Lagos State, drivers were largely not obeying the available ones, according to Ike Okonkwo, the executive secretary of Arrive Alive Road Safety Initiative, an FRSC-accredited road safety non-profit.
A disappearing zebra crossing on Ogba road, Ikeja, Lagos State. Photo Credit: Sodeeq Atanda/FIJ.
Zebra crossing is the only right of way pedestrians have on the road globally. But in Nigeria, Lagos in particular, commercial drivers blatantly ignore it, operating as if they have a pact with law traffic agents to disregard the traffic rules, Okonkwo said during a phone interview on October 18.
“To begin with, there are not enough road signs, which include zebra crossings. Even where there are zebra crossing signs, they are not obeyed. In the first place, it seems commercial bus drivers have a pact with the government not to obey road rules. They blatantly disregard road safety measures,” Okonkwo said.
“Let me give an example, if you go to the Lekki-Ajah road and stand by a traffic point there, you will see that bus drivers don’t obey anything, not even traffic lights. When the light is red, what they do is to move on to the left-hand side as if they want to make a U-turn and at the end of the point, they just drive on.”
Okonkwo blamed this violation on the weak enforcement system.
“This is done in the presence of the FRSC, LASTMA and police officers. Drivers don’t respect anything about road safety. The only right of way pedestrians have globally is zebra crossings. By law, if you stand at a zebra crossing, every vehicle that is about to pass must stop for you to cross. If a driver knocks down any human being at a zebra crossing point, that driver is bound to be jailed,” Okonkwo explained.
“But that is not the case in Nigeria. It is happening because of lack of enforcement. Awareness creation should never cease. You must continue to knock it on people’s heads that there is a zebra crossing and it must be obeyed. And as you are doing that, you enforce so that the cost of breaching the law is higher than the cost of obeying it.”
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WHAT LOCAL AND GLOBAL STRATEGIES ARE BEING TAKEN?
Despite a global reduction in road traffic crashes elsewhere in the world, particularly in Europe, the reality is different in Africa with a death rate of 19 per 100,000 persons, who are mostly pedestrians, motorcyclists (called okada in Nigeria) and cyclists, according to WHO.
A number of strategies have been developed by the federal government as well as WHO with specific deliverables to reduce road crashes.
Nigeria’s Vice-President Kashim Shettima launched the National Road Safety Advisory Council Committee in line with Nigeria Road Safety Strategy II, which aims to reduce road crashes, fatalities and injuries by half by 2030 on the country’s estimated 200,183km road network.
“We need a comprehensive solution for our road safety challenges. The whole ecosystem is not as it should be,” Shettima said. He further emphasised the importance of “deliberate efforts toward addressing our road challenges” according to global best practices.
Similarly, the state government in Lagos also plans to establish a road safety unit to be domiciled in the Ministry of Transport to manage the state’s road safety database in line with Lagos State Transport Policy for an improved road safety environment in the state.
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