Lagos unveils interstate park system, harps on travellers’ safety

The Lagos State Government has unveiled the Interstate Park Accreditation and Passenger Manifest Digitisation project, aimed at revolutionising interstate travel through improved safety, reliability, and efficiency.

Speaking at Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, on Friday, the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi, stressed the importance of the project, stating that it was a commitment to the safety and comfort of every traveller who enters or exits Lagos by road.

Osiyemi highlighted the project’s core objectives as the standardisation of interstate parks across the state and the transformation of the passenger manifest system into a fully digital platform.

He added that the initiative consisted of two primary components which he mentioned as Interstate Park Accreditation and Digital Passenger Manifest System.

According to him, the Interstate Park Accreditation would require all interstate parks in Lagos to undergo an accreditation process, where parks that meet the ministry’s safety and service standards would be officially certified.

“These accredited parks will display distinctive signage, reassuring travellers that they are boarding from a secure and regulated facility.

“Unregulated, roadside ‘mushroom’ parks will be required to meet specific standards or make necessary improvements to operate,” he said.

Speaking further, the commissioner said that the Digital Passenger Manifest System was moving from a paper-based manifest system to a digital platform which would enable the real-time capture and secure storage of passenger data.

He said this would provide immediate access to accurate passenger information in case of incidents, to empower emergency responders with critical information for swift action.

Osiyemi mentioned that established parks with existing systems would be integrated into the state’s centralised platform.

He said that with the initiative, Lagosians can travel with confidence, park operators gain credibility, and Lagos State can set new standards for modern, efficient transport systems.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Sola Giwa, aligned with the objectives of the initiative.

He said it was designed to ensure the safety and protection of Lagosians, while also enabling the state to better plan for the flow of people entering and exiting.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation, Olawale Musa, noted that the current state of interstate parks required improvement and reorganisation.

He emphasised that the government was mindful of data protection laws, as he assured Lagosians that any passenger information shared with the state would be kept confidential and not disclosed publicly.

The State Secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Usman Teslim, lauded the state government for the initiative.