A Society of Possible Change

By Ken Adejumoh 

Change is undoubtedly the only thing that is constant which invariable means that everything on earth is in a state of flux. While everything is subject to change if given a specific period of time, attitudinal change can be more difficult as it has to deal with man and his psyche. Sometimes, attitudes can be likened to habits which are developed over time. It is a known fact that a bad habit can be changed in the space of time.

The human society is enveloped with different attitudinal effects which transcend from the individual into the wider space. This results in some form of general behaviour which in one way or the other pollutes the society. Looking at a typical Lagos city, the commercial hub of Nigeria with a total land area of 3,756sqkm and with a dense population of over 20 million inhabitants, noise pollution is a prevalent feature of the city.

The city is characterised by its dense population as well as accommodating over 40% of the vehicles in Nigeria. These generate air pollution resulting from vehicle exhausts emission of carbon mono-oxide and noise pollution from running motor engines and their horns. Noise pollution on its own has adverse effect on human race as it leads to early deafness.

It is worthy to note that people who don’t reside in Lagos at some point or the other have tagged Lagosians as noisy and lousy people. Over time, this has been traced to the high level of noise pollution in the city.   According to reports from experts, exposure to noise should not be greater than 90 decibels for eight hours per day and five days a week and when the noise level is above this, there is bound to result to loss of hearing for an individual. 

However, in a bid to address this ravaging human-induced condition, the Lagos State government under the leadership of His Excellency, Babatunde Raji Fashola declared October 15, 2014 as a “No-Horn Day” across the state. Achieving a noiseless society is for the good of all,  “If residents of Lagos could contain Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) irrespective of its deadly nature, noise pollution could also be a thing of the past”, Governor Fashola Said at a programme in Lagos.

“The objective of the day is to reduce noise pollution and to create awareness that horn misuse and abuse is very dangerous to health and the environment”, Kayode Opeifa, Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation said. He added that the ‘No Horn Day’ was aimed at solving a public health issue through a social intervention idea.

Though this is an adopted practice in some climes but this happens to be the first time it is being observed in Nigeria to align with similar noise-reduction initiatives around the world, such as in Mumbai, India.

Lagos is characterised by the constant use of the car horn which can be likened to as its soundtrack. People use the horn as an alert of caution sign before, during and after every maneuver and when stuck in traffic but this is done in the unhealthiest of manners leading to noise pollution.

Amidst the teaming traffic situation and bad manners exhibited on the road by the popular commercial drivers and even some private drivers, the essence of declaring Wednesday 15, October 2014 as a horn free day was to inculcate discipline and institute patience on all road users in order to have a less noisy Lagos.   

Prior to this day, one could feel the eagerness of Lagosians to see such a day come to reality as stickers, banners, radio jingles and T-shirts bearing ‘A Day without Horn in Lagos’ were all over the place as part of the awareness campaign.

In an attempt to observe compliance of the horn free day, I rose early at 6:25am from Ajah to Lekki Phase 1 and it was pretty encouraging to see that both commercial and private drivers were conscious in adhering to the initiative. Within the Lekki Estate, I noticed vehicles maintained decorum on the road without the usual shouting and cursing.

Just the moment I entered into the estate and stopped by the ATM terminal, an SUV honked and the guy by side laughed saying “the idea of no honk is long overdue but it can’t work in our society where impatience reigns”.  I jumped in and shared my personal experience on October 7, 2014 when I drove from Ejigbo to Ajah without honking as I was trying to envisage the October 15 exercise. He then agreed with me that it’s possible but through attitudinal change.

From my monitoring, though compliance was not 100 per cent, the level of compliance was very high and commendable between 6:30am and about 7:45am when I settled down in the office. From my online monitoring, I can confidently say that motorists all over Lagos State largely observed the No-Horn Day. Whilst the exercise lasted, one thing I could deduce from the high compliance was that Lagosians and Nigerians can embrace change if given proper orientation. 

Suffice to say that the ‘Horn Free Day’ initiative is in tandem with the on-going Spirit of Lagos’ “Change Your Thinking” campaign which has the sole objective of restoring the business hub to its noiseless and healthy environment. This campaign is embedded on attitudinal change in all ramifications so we can bequeath a decent and healthy Lagos to the younger generation.

This means that with collective responsibility and all hands on deck the change we desire can be achieved in all spheres of our society. This can also be achieved effortlessly if citizens could for once amend their ways of living by changing their thinking from the usual I don’t care attitude.

Adejumoh writes from Lekki, Lagos