14 hours and 38 minutes in traffic – Lagosians tell Neusroom about their experience of Victoria Island gridlock
A Lagos resident has told Neusroom about the excruciating ordeal she witnessed in Lagos traffic—one of the worst gridlocks Nigeria’s megacity has experienced in recent years.
Yesterday, April 3, thousands of Nigerians in Lagos were stuck in a gridlock that lasted for hours, stretching into the early morning of today.
The cause of the traffic is directly linked to the closure of the Independence Bridge, which was shut down for repairs expected to last for one month. This bridge, located in Victoria Island—one of the most affluent districts in the megacity—connects Victoria Island to Marina on Lagos Island and then to Eko Bridge. It is used by thousands of commuters daily.
Lagos, a city of over 20 million people scrambling for space in 3,577 km²—the smallest state in Nigeria—is notorious for its long traffic jams. However, many residents believe that yesterday’s gridlock was the worst in the history of the state.
Marthy, a young professional who lives in Ajah, a town on the Lekki Peninsula, part of Lagos Island, told Neusroom that she spent five hours commuting to work and over nine hours returning home.
“I left for work by 9 AM and got there by 2 PM,” Marthy told Neusroom. “I stayed just an hour and left by 3 PM but was not able to get home till 12:38 AM.”
Like many others who were stuck in the traffic, Marthy stayed home and did not go to work today.
Marthy’s account was corroborated by others who spoke to Neusroom on the condition that their real names would not be used.
Sunday, who lives on the Mainland around Command, said that although he was lucky to get home by 10 PM, he still had to trek from his office in Oniru to Eko Hotel—a walk that, according to Google Maps, should take about an hour on foot.
“I was just lucky or smart enough to leave the office early, but I still had to walk from my office in Oniru to Eko Hotel before I could take a bus to Iyana Oworo. I still spent more than five hours in traffic,” he said.
Several others, upon hearing about the traffic, decided to stay back in their offices. That was the case with Damilare.
“I decided to spend the night in the office because of the traffic jam, and I wasn’t the only one. I left the office at 5 AM this morning and still got home after 7 AM,” Damilare told Neusroom.
According to him, his commute from Oniru to his house usually takes about 30 minutes, but he was stuck in traffic for two hours this morning.
Additionally, multiple posts on social media were flooded with people sharing their experiences in the gridlock. One user on X claimed she spent nine hours commuting in the morning.
“I left home by 7 AM and got to work by 4 PM. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire life. Even coming back, I had to take a bike. I have no words to explain how bad it was,” she wrote.
Another described it as the worst traffic in Lagos history.
“This has to be the worst traffic in the history of Lagos, Nigeria. Been stuck since 5:00 PM all the way from Maruwa, Lekki. It’s 11:26 PM right now, and I’m presently at Civic Centre.”
Although the federal government has ordered the bridge to be reopened, traffic jams of this magnitude are recurrent whenever there is a bridge closure or ongoing repairs in Lagos. The megacity—one of the wealthiest in Africa, with an internally generated revenue of N1.418 trillion last year—continues to struggle with a poor transportation system.
While the exact number of bridges in Lagos is uncertain, alternative means of transportation, such as ferries and expanded rail networks, remain underutilized or nearly nonexistent. The Lagos State government recently introduced the Blue and Red Line rail projects to ease traffic congestion, yet these have not significantly solved the city’s transportation crisis.
