"I did it my way" - Frank Sinatra
In an effort to pacify agitated Lagos commuters, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu laid out his plans to decongest traffic in a Twitter thread with the hashtag #SolvingLagosTraffic
While presenting the Lagos waterways as an alternative to road transportation, Mr Sanwo-Olu took sole credit for launching UberBoats. Was this an accurate claim?
Uber already announced four months ago that the Boat service was coming to Lagos
Back in June, Uber's Chief Business officer told Reuters about their plans to launch a Boat service in Lagos. The collaborations they mentioned to make the venture possible were with Texas Connection Ferries and the Lagos State Waterways Authority. The Lagos Governor was not mentioned.
UberBoats has launched in other countries where Governors played no role
From the USA to Croatia to Mumbai, UberBoats has already been up and running. The company has always had a plan to offer its ride-hailing service via different modes of transportation.
UberBoats in Lagos will not solve decongestion of road traffic
In a prior Business Insider SSA article on the Boat launch, we described the capacity limitations due to the service being a pilot program for only two weeks with just two boats and one roundtrip destination. The Governor did not disclose this in his tweets.
Verdict: The Governor made a misleading statement
The Governor can be forgiven for trying to take advantage of any and every opportunity to show Lagosians that he is working to reduce their traffic headaches. This led him to claim sole ownership of a launch in an effort to look strategic for the benefit of his constituents. To his credit, Business Insider SSA can attest to bad roads already being fixed and urges Lagosians to use the Governor's hashtag to let him know that work is proceeding as planned.
We still have quite a way to go.
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