Hamzat Says Lagos Traffic Is A Lifestyle, And I Have Questions

Lagos Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat stood at PODFEST Naija on Friday and told a room full of creatives that Lagos traffic is not a problem, it is a lifestyle. He said anyone who has crossed Third Mainland Bridge at 6 p.m. knows this. The man is the APC governorship candidate for 2027, so every sentence he speaks from now until that election is a campaign document, not a casual observation.

Hamzat went further. He said traffic has been the patron of the entertainment industry, that people consume content episode by episode between Ojota and Obalende, and then he told the room, and I quote him directly, "So, you must celebrate traffic, that's why we're Lagos." A deputy governor asking citizens to celebrate a condition that steals three to four hours of their day is a remarkable thing to say out loud. The average Lagos worker leaves home before 5 a.m. and returns after 9 p.m. That is not a lifestyle. That is a tax collected in hours instead of naira, and nobody voted for it.

Some people will argue he was speaking to creatives, that he meant it as cultural commentary, that Lagos hustle is real and we should own our story. Fine. But there is a difference between celebrating the resilience of Lagosians and dressing up government failure as heritage. Traffic on Third Mainland Bridge is not culture. It is the result of bad urban planning, poor drainage, unregulated commercial vehicles, and decades of infrastructure decisions that never matched population growth. Hamzat is asking for votes in 2027. So let me ask plainly, if traffic is a lifestyle, what exactly is your transport policy going to fix?