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Lagos Traffic Radio has been described as a station that has come to stay despite all odds and the favourite of motorists/residents who wish to navigate seamlessly across the metropolis.

The newly-deployed Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Olanrewaju Bajulaiye, while commending the tireless effort of the management and members of staff to take the station to greater heights, called for more synergy and innovative ideas to propel the station in disseminating traffic information to Lagos residents more efficiently and effectively.

Adeola Akindele, Deputy Director, News and Current Affairs, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists.

According to the statement, Bajulaiye, who was on a working visit to the station, accompanied by the Director, Social Media in the Ministry, Dr.Jide Atansuyi and his Strategy Centre Counterpart,  Kayode Oyekanmi, noted that “Lagos, as the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, is in the cynosure of all,” hence the important role of Lagos Traffic Radio in contributing to the T.H.E.M.E.S Plus Agenda of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration.

“And we’ll also look at possibilities of opening new frontiers so that, like, people in the Diaspora, we will also be able to give them information as it affects traffic in Lagos because Lagos is not comparable to any state of the Federation. We’re compared to states, nations of the world, that’s why we talk about being a mega-city. That’s why we talk about being the largest economy in sub-Saharan West Africa. So, whatever we do, all eyes are on us. A state that will not have one-tenth of the traffic that we have, if they try to talk about traffic, they won’t be doing anything,” the Permanent Secretary noted.

Bajulaiye added: “What we are doing is, we are meeting the needs and the yearnings of the people and so we’re doing a very, very good job, and we should keep it up. I want us to look at other areas that people have not delved into”.

Earlier, while welcoming the Permanent Secretary and his team, the General Manager, Lagos Traffic Radio, Mr. Tayo Akanle, congratulated him for a well-deserved appointment and redeployment to his home base, the Ministry of Information and Strategy, which he said, would solidify his experience over the years in service.

Akanle reeled out all the reforms, initiatives and innovations of the Station in line with the Letter ‘T’ of the T.H.E.M.E.S. Plus Agenda embarked on by the Station in the last 13 years, including on the waterways, railway, flight schedule, live camera update, live motorbike incidents camera reports, with the establishment of a Booster Station in Ikorodu and another in the pipeline in Ibeju-Lekki axis of the state to boost the station’s signal.

Akanle stated that the Station targets to increase its Live Camera Feeds in collaboration with the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology from the current 300 (Three hundred) to over 3,000 (Three thousand) to enhance more visibility from the Studios.

“This is a station that was established purposely to provide information, traffic information and travel advisory for motorists, not only in Lagos, but also within the neighbouring states in the last 13 years and in all honesty, the station has not digressed, the station has not deviated from that just cause to which it was established. It has moved from point to point, it has moved from leaps and bound, it has made progress 13 years down the line and I am so happy not only because I am head of this Agency now, but because all of us here have put up a lot of efforts towards ensuring that we have gotten to this position that we are today”.

Akanle hinted that the Station also witnessed increased social media engagements on its Facebook from 4,000 (Four thousand) in 2019 to 100,000 (One hundred thousand) followers currently, X handle from 15,000 ( Fifteen thousand) to 50,000 (Fifty-Five thousand) followers.

The General Manager conducted the Permanent Secretary and his entourage on tour of some facilities, including the live studios, transmitter room, and inspection of the Live Motorbike Reporters, among others.