I used to think persons who live in Lagos are sleep deprived. On the contrary, they are not. A significant percentage sleep in traffic! These days the hours of sleep during the gridlock have been extended. Some people now do 30minutes to 1hour. Or even more.

On Monday, I spent more than 3hours in a journey that otherwise would have taken me not more than 55minutes. But I did not sleep because I was driving and my air-conditioning system decided to catch some nap as well. In fact, it kept napping after every 30minutes it seemed, before I finally got home. If I wasn’t driving, I would have slept, I am sure.

Because of the traffic situation in Lagos, many people who would have preferred the addicted lanes of the rat race in the city, are now compelled to spend some of that time in traffic. With many yielding to sleep as they wait for the opportunity to disembark and join the race, except when they are returning home.

Although they have not given it the name yet, I am thinking ‘Sleep Time,’ might soon replace ‘Lagos Traffic’ as the name given to the situation where commuters on the roads are held up in their cars for hours as they try to move about in the city.

If not for ‘Sleep Time,’ many people living in Lagos will be sleep-deprived. If that were the case, the overall wellness level of the city would have dropped dramatically. Because such persons would have been missing one of the top needs for a healthy life. The four essential needs for a healthy life are: air, water, sleep and food. In that order. Sleep is more important than food but not many people know that.

Somehow, the benevolent forces have combined to ensure that Lagosians enjoy a special variety of this important resource, during a time that has almost become the dominant signature of the city.

In order for us to take full advantage of this resource below are some important recommendations:

Trendy Safety Boxes for Commuters’ Valuables

Sleeping in traffic is something that has come to stay even after the ongoing repair and rehabilitation works would have been concluded. Let’s not kid ourselves. But nobody wants to sleep and leave their valuables unattended. They won’t sleep well. So we need crack designers to design trendy safety boxes that will be placed inside the intra-city buses. Some banks already have something like this. Passengers may place their phones and wallets in their pockets or wherever else they consider safer than the safety boxes. The idea is people should not worry about their valuables when it is sleep time!

Lagos Sleep Marshalls

This is not a job for the boys but it is employment none-the-less. As the officers will be trained and properly kitted. Like those nicely kitted Neighbourhood Security operatives! Their principal duty is to monitor sleeping passengers, and ensure that no conductor or anybody else disturbs their sleep.

Head and Arm Rests for Commuters’ Sleep and Comfort

Some commuters like to rest their heads on their arms which they place on the seat in front of them to sleep. Others would love to have comfortable headrests for their heads as they sleep. Not pillows o! So we need crack designers to design comfortable head and armrests for use of sleeping commuters during ‘Sleep Time.’

Lastly, we need the authorities to take these raw ideas and bring the relevant think-tank to fine-tune them into making them efficient during implementation seeing that ‘Sleep Time,’ has come to stay with Lagosians.