The candidates disagreed over whether private investors could finance the expansion of Lagos's rail network without substantial government funding
Candidates in the Lagos State governorship debate have outlined different approaches to tackling traffic congestion and improving healthcare, with proposals ranging from expanding public transportation to increasing hospital funding and providing free treatment for mothers and children.
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The World Bank has identified traffic congestion as a persistent problem in Lagos, where commuters spend an average of about four hours daily travelling. Its September 2025 brief examined the city’s public transport challenges and efforts to expand mass transit.
African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour on Sunday at the debate said poor urban planning and an inadequate transport network were partly responsible for the long hours residents spend commuting.
He stated that traffic had become so much a part of daily life that residents had come to accept spending several hours travelling to and from work, often at the expense of time with their families.
“Traffic is not a lifestyle and we should not have to work to get to work,” Mr Rhodes-Vivour said.
He proposed spreading development across the state and expanding the rail network with private-sector funding.
According to him, infrastructure finance companies could provide the money for the expansion, allowing the projects to be completed within two and a half years and repaid over 30 years without placing the entire financial burden on the state government.
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He also proposed shorter bridges linking the eastern foreshore with the Ibeju-Lekki axis to provide alternative routes for motorists.
On water transportation, Mr Rhodes-Vivour called for more ferry services, accessible terminals and cable cars to complement the rail network. He said commuters should be able to park their vehicles at ferry terminals and continue their journeys by water.
He also proposed dedicated bicycle lanes, improved roads within communities and the development of local centres across local governments to reduce the need for residents to travel long distances to access basic services.
Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, said his administration would build on the existing bus rapid transit (BRT) system and improve connections between road, rail and water transportation.
He noted that the BRT system had recorded 77 million passenger journeys since its introduction. He proposed increasing the number of buses from about 1,000 to 4,000, mainly using compressed natural gas (CNG), to move about one million passengers daily.
Mr Hamzat also proposed dedicated BRT lanes linking Marina with Epe and Badagry, among other routes.
He said commuters should be able to use ferries, trains and BRT buses with a single payment system, allowing them to move between different transport services without making separate payments.
He proposed deploying electric ferries to reduce operating costs and increase passenger capacity, with routes linking Oworonshoki, Ikorodu, Epe and Badagry.
Mr Hamzat added that the government had identified traffic junctions for intervention to ease congestion.
The proposals are linked to the Lagos State Government’s broader transport plans. The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) says its Strategic Transport Master Plan provides for an integrated system involving rail, BRT, waterways and other transport services.
Disagreement over rail financing
The candidates disagreed over whether private investors could finance the expansion of Lagos’s rail network without substantial government funding.
Mr Rhodes-Vivour said private financing was possible, adding that he had held discussions with infrastructure financiers who had presented proposals to the Lagos State Government.
He argued that the project was commercially viable and should not take decades to complete.
Mr Hamzat disagreed, saying no sub-national government in Africa had successfully built a rail network entirely through private-sector financing.
He recalled that the Lagos government spent three years under former Governor Babatunde Fashola seeking private investors to finance the Blue and Red rail lines but was unsuccessful.
He stated that government must first invest in rail infrastructure before considering concessions to private operators.
Mr Hamzat also warned that relying on passenger fares alone to finance rail projects could make transportation too expensive for ordinary residents.
Agbero system and public transportation
Funso Doherty of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) blamed part of Lagos’s traffic problem on poor management of existing infrastructure and the failure to modernise public transportation.
He criticised the condition of commercial buses operating in the state, describing many as dilapidated and poorly managed. He said the government needed to replace the fragmented system with modern buses that offered safer and more comfortable journeys.
Mr Doherty also alleged that vested interests had benefited from the existing transport arrangement and that political considerations had prevented successive administrations from confronting the informal network associated with transport union levies and touts.
He noted that he would have the political will to reform the system because his administration would depend on voters rather than the informal transport network for political support.
Research by the International Growth Centre has examined the effects of Lagos’s Bus Reform Initiative on private minibus operators. A 2025 study found that the introduction of public buses affected minibus services and drivers’ earnings, highlighting the need to consider informal operators when planning transport reforms.
Deji Doherty of the People Democratic Party (PDP) also identified heavy-duty truck movements, transport union activities, poor roads and delays in completing the Fourth Mainland Bridge as factors contributing to congestion.
He said several local government areas had roads in poor condition, making it difficult to ease traffic without improving the road network.
He proposed additional bridges, including routes linking Oworonshoki with Epe and Ibeju-Lekki, to provide alternative routes for motorists.
Mr Doherty stated that Lagos’s population meant commercial buses, motorcycles, tricycles and private vehicles would continue to operate, making it necessary to improve roads and provide more options for commuters.
On the informal transport system, the NDC candidate said reform would require addressing the livelihoods of people who depended on it.
He proposed expanding vocational and skills acquisition programmes to help them find alternative sources of income.
He also said modernising public transportation would create jobs for drivers, conductors, mechanics and other workers, providing opportunities for some people currently working in the informal system to move into more organised employment.
Fact-checkers challenge candidates’ claims
The debate’s independent fact-checking team challenged some of the candidates’ claims, including statements about Lagos’s revenue and elevation above sea level.
The team rated as false a claim attributed to the NDC candidate that Lagos’s internally generated revenue (IGR) was higher than the combined revenue of 31 other states.
According to figures presented by the fact-checkers, Lagos generated N1.77 trillion in 2025, while all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory generated a combined N5.15 trillion.
The other 35 states and the FCT accounted for N3.38 trillion, meaning Lagos contributed about 34 per cent of the total.
The National Bureau of Statistics’ 2025 IGR figures, reported by PREMIUM TIMES, also showed that Lagos generated N1.77 trillion out of the combined N5.15 trillion.
The fact-checking team also rated
Mr Hamzat’s claim that Lagos was two metres below sea level as false. It said the state was a low-lying coastal area but was not below sea level.
Candidates differ over healthcare funding
On healthcare, the candidates proposed different ways to address funding shortages, improve hospital services and make treatment more accessible to residents.
The moderator raised concerns about Lagos’s health budget, noting that the state allocated between five and eight per cent of its annual budget to healthcare, below the 15 per cent target under the Abuja Declaration.
The candidates were asked how they would increase funding and ensure that allocations were released and properly spent.
Mr Rhodes-Vivour proposed establishing emergency response centres in all 245 wards, each equipped with two ambulances.
He said the centres would reduce the time residents spend moving between hospitals in search of beds, oxygen and other emergency services.
He also proposed preventive healthcare programmes to identify illnesses early and provide basic health education at the ward level. The centres, he said, would include wellness facilities where residents, particularly older people and pensioners, could exercise and receive guidance on healthy living.
Mr Rhodes-Vivour said he would increase healthcare funding towards 15 per cent of the state budget, improve doctors’ salaries, train support staff and introduce artificial intelligence to support diagnosis and healthcare delivery.
Mr Hamzat stated that his administration would expand health insurance coverage, increase hospital capacity and upgrade primary healthcare centres.
He said the Ilera Eko health insurance scheme currently covered about 1.4 million people and proposed extending coverage to one in every three Lagos residents.
He also cited ongoing hospital projects, including a 150-bed general hospital and the Massey Street children’s hospital, as part of efforts to increase capacity.
Mr Hamzat said Lagos had more than 300 primary healthcare centres, but only 87 were operating as flagship facilities. He proposed increasing the number to about 150 and expanding round-the-clock services so residents could access medical attention at any time.
He also proposed establishing a new university of medicine, with a target of producing up to 1,000 doctors.
However, he said increasing the number of trained doctors alone would not address the problem unless the government also improved hospital facilities and working conditions to retain medical professionals.
The state government has acknowledged the funding challenges. At a ministerial briefing in May 2026, Commissioner for Health Akin Abayomi said Lagos spent about eight per cent of its budget on health and faced an estimated N100 billion gap between available funding and projected healthcare needs.
The NDC candidate called for increased government spending on healthcare and education, proposing that their combined allocation should rise from about 15 per cent to 28 per cent of the state budget during his first term.
He also promised free maternal and child healthcare, including drugs and diagnostic tests.
Mr Doherty said some government hospitals provided consultations but required patients to obtain tests elsewhere and buy prescribed drugs themselves, making treatment unaffordable for many families.
He argued that free healthcare should cover essential treatment rather than depend mainly on insurance schemes. While acknowledging the role of health insurance in expanding coverage, he said the government should directly fund treatment for residents who could not afford medical expenses.
The PDP candidate said improving healthcare would require more investment in medical personnel, hospital equipment and pharmaceutical production.
He called for the training of more doctors and nurses, saying the available number of medical professionals and hospitals was inadequate for a state with an estimated population of 25 million.