The recent murder of Ms Bamise Ayanwole, 22, during a routine bus ride between the Lekki and Oshodi areas of Lagos State has caused serious concerns and raises questions about safety on public transport in the country.
Ms Ayanwole was murdered on Feb., 26, when she was allegedly attacked by one Andrew Nice Omininikoron, 47, the driver of the Bus Rapid Transit she had boarded on her way to visit her brother. She was allegedly sexually assaulted by this person possibly with the connivance of some others and her body was thrown out of the bus to be discovered about a week after.
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We condemn this act and call on the government to ensure that the perpetrator is brought to book. While the suspect has been arrested and arraigned in court, the authorities need to take urgent steps to ensure public safety, especially for female users of the buses, as several allegations of sexual harassment have been levelled against the suspect since his arrest. Mr Omininikoron’s alleged use of public buses to perpetrate such crimes in public places is audacious and demonstrates a lack of proper supervision.
In a recent interview, an older brother of Ms Ayanwole said they had reported to the police that the deceased was missing but after realising their complaint was not receiving adequate attention, they decided to take the matter to the BRT Terminal 3, where an attendant dismissed their report, alleging that the victim had gone out to “enjoy herself.” This lackadaisical attitude persisted to the point that even when the driver of the bus, identified through the numbers the victim had sent in her distress messages, the BRT managers did not take the necessary steps to investigate the complaint.
If these allegations against both the police authorities and the BRT operators are confirmed, both the Lagos State government and the police must take urgent steps to identify the persons responsible for this negligence and subject them to the appropriate sanctions. They must also take urgent actions to ensure that all complaints of public safety or missing persons be treated with the required expediency and given all seriousness. The days of losing lives over habitual laxity should be well and truly behind us.
As a matter of urgency, security in all public transport systems needs to be beefed up through the installation of onboard CCTV that will document all activities and monitor the successful embarkation and disembarkation of all passengers as well as monitor driver and passengers’ conduct. This is also vital not just for the safety of the passengers but the drivers as well. There should also be an emergency contact number or a distress button that should be accessible to passengers at all times.
It is expedient at this point for technology to be deployed to monitor the movement of these buses and ensure that they use designated bus stops only. This will not only improve public safety and road use but ensure better service delivery.
Crucially, there must be a proper screening and training of all drivers and staff of the public transport systems in the country to not just guarantee public safety but to ensure their professional conduct in relating to passengers and responding to complaints. To this end, employees in public transportation should be trained among other things about sexual harassment, to be made aware of the extant law and what conduct is and is not acceptable. They must be subjected to a standardised test before they are certified to work in this sector.
The Lagos State government and the police authorities should set up an inquiry into the conduct of BRT drivers over the years. They should encourage those who have been threatened, sexually harassed or molested on these buses to conveniently and anonymously report such incidents. The murder of Ms Ayanwole is symptomatic of a larger problem, that the authorities need to take decisive measures to address. It will simply not do for law-abiding citizens, especially women going about their businesses, to feel unsafe while using public transportation.
While the murder of Ms Ayanwole is investigated and the suspect(s) prosecuted, justice must be done and be seen to be done as closure for the victim’s family, the perpetrator’s other victims and would-be victims, if those allegations are confirmed. It would also serve as a deterrent to others who use public buses for such heinous crimes. More significantly, we call on the Lagos State government, the operators of the BRT, to pay compensation to the family of the deceased.
Let this be a call to action, not only to the Lagos State government but all state governments and the ministry of transportation as well. The transportation sector is crucial to the nation’s economy and criminals must not be allowed to capitalise on the government’s negligence to overrun the system.
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