LASTMA Celebrates 25 Years with Essay Competition, Empowering Young Lagosians To Shape Traffic Future

Emmanuel lkpeama

The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has marked a significant milestone – its 25th anniversary – with the grand finale of a State wide inter-school essay competition.

The event, held at the SUBEB Hall in Maryland, Lagos, brought together students from public and private secondary schools to showcase their ideas on traffic safety and management.

Investigator news reports that students submitted thought-provoking essays articulating sustainable strategies for enhancing traffic safety and efficiency in Lagos as the competition is aimed to galvanize young minds and encourage civic engagement among the youth on traffic regulation and safety.

A panel of judges comprising scholars, policy analysts, and transportation professionals evaluated the essays, identifying top performers who demonstrated exceptional analytical depth and creative ingenuity.

LASTMA’s General Manager, Mr. Olalekan Bakare-Oki, emphasized the importance of engaging young people in traffic policy discourse and behavioral re-orientation.

“Today’s students represent the architects of tomorrow’s transport systems. Embedding civic responsibility and traffic consciousness in their formative years is indispensable to cultivating a future motoring environment characterized by compliance, empathy, and order,” he declared.

Mr. Bakare-Oki described the essay competition as a cornerstone of LASTMA’s strategic advocacy framework, which is anchored on education, public enlightenment, and participatory governance.

He noted that the initiative dovetails seamlessly with the overarching theme of this year’s Lagos Traffic Conference:“Rethinking Urban Mobility: A Strategic Blueprint for a Safer Lagos.”

Bakare went further to extolled the Sanwo-Olu administration’s steadfast commitment to innovative traffic governance, robust inter-agency collaboration, and capacity development—emphasizing that LASTMA remains central to Lagos State’s long-term urban mobility agenda through the promotion of infrastructure efficiency, behavioral recalibration, and institutional synergy.

“This milestone engagement with our youth signals a pivotal stride toward institutionalizing a sustainable traffic culture and entrenching safety consciousness in the hearts and minds of the next generation of Lagosians.”

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Hon. Sola Giwa, lauded the initiative for its far-reaching impact, noting that it seeks to “ignite civic consciousness and cultivate intellectual discourse among the youth on the intricacies of traffic regulation and safety.”

He emphasized that the contest served not merely as an academic exercise but as a transformative platform for amplifying the voices of future city-shapers in Lagos’ transportation narrative.

Hon. Giwa further revealed that the competition culminated in a riveting final round, wherein the shortlisted finalists demonstrated exceptional analytical depth, rhetorical finesse, and creative ingenuity, reflecting a sophisticated understanding of urban mobility dynamics.

An erudite panel of adjudicators—comprising scholars, policy analysts, and transport-sector professionals—undertook a rigorous evaluation process to identify the top three laureates, each of whom offered compelling paradigms for reimagining traffic management in the megacity.

“The climax of this noble intellectual endeavour lies ahead, as the three distinguished winners shall be publicly honoured and conferred with awards of excellence by the Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, at the 2nd Lagos Traffic Conference, slated to take place on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at the prestigious Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island”

The Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Mr. Oluwa Musa, extolled the commendable efforts of students from various schools who actively participated in the recently concluded essay competition.

In his response to several insightful and thought-provoking arguments articulated by the students during their presentations, Mr. Musa urged them to remain steadfast in their academic pursuits and to conduct themselves as worthy ambassadors of both Lagos State and the nation at large.