In April 2022, Lagos State Government launched Traffic Management Solutions (TMS) to digitally process traffic violations and enforce compliance. At the time, only the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) officials could use it. In July 2024, LASTMA opened up digital traffic management for citizen participation. The agency launched a whistleblower application that allows citizens capture and report traffic offences. The app also partly digitises traffic offence adjudication for the agency and the road user.

Considering the traffic situation in Lagos, deploying these technologies should be a beacon of hope for the average road user. But there is a much more sinister underbelly to the process that led to this deployment. In 2015, Oladapo Olawale, the chief executive officer of Peach Studio Works, and his team made Ojutiti, a traffic management solutions application with the same exact interface and functions as TMS and the whistleblower application. Ojutiti was even copyrighted by Olawale and his team. But more importantly, he presented the same application to the Lagos State Ministry of Transport. After an engagement that spanned about two years, the ministry ceased correspondence, only to launch the TMS in 2022.

In this interview, Peach Studio Works details how their engagement with the Lagos State Government went and how the transport ministry is daring the law by attempting a bold-face copyright infringement.

Can you introduce Peach Studio Works? What does your organisation do?

We are better known as PSW. We are a limited liability company incorporated in 2013. We have done a few development applications, you know, to solve problems. Basically, the whole idea behind the organisation is to solve problems using smart technology. We also have an interest in the media. I have experience in banking, telecoms, advertising. So based on my own interest, these are part of what we do.

Please explain how the Ojutiti idea came to be. What was the ideation like, and what inspired it?

I can trace it back to 2012, when I was a banker. The idea was born out of frustration. I was driving from work one day on Ikorodu Road and I got stuck in traffic. I saw some cars driving by on the BRT lane. You know, because of the traffic. So, I thought to myself. This is something that can be captured. What if I snapped this picture, posted it somewhere and let the agencies track the violator using their number plates?

I was not sure whether or not there was any application like that or whether there was any tracking done at the time. About a week later, some policemen stopped me on the way to an official function. They said they wanted to check the authenticity of my car’s particulars. So, they opened a website. I believe the website was run by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). They typed in my number plate and, behold, they brought out some of my details. I thought to myself, “If this application platform exists, why should it be difficult to track offenders and fine them based on the violations?”

There was also one morning when I was also going to work and I saw a bus driving against traffic. So, I parked. I took a picture of the bus. This was a recurring thing on that particular route. I tweeted and tagged the Lagos State governor at the time and the FRSC, but there was no single response. That was what birthed the idea of Ojutiti. I essentially wanted a platform where you could report traffic violations, enforce fines and track the progress of the enforcement.

Can you give a summary of the features of Ojutiti? How does it work?

With Ojutiti, citizens could report traffic violations. We had a debate in the team about whether to use pictures or videos. But we eventually settled for videos. Pictures were easy to manipulate. Citizens who observe traffic violations can record a 15-second video and send it through Ojutiti. Once there is a report, we pick it up on the backend and review the violation. The plan was to liaise with the government to set up the standard for these reviews. The application also had a geo-tagging feature. Each video automatically comes with a location and time stamp.

Also, subscribers are able to see the number of violations reported. They can also see time stamps. Once a violation has been established, we push a notification to the violator. We had a meeting with Auto-reg on this. The plan was to interface with Auto-Reg’s database. It worked in such a way that once a violation was established, we sent messages that had been pre-configured to the violator.

The notification carries your offence, your vehicle number and the fine, and it directs you on how to pay the fine. Now you can choose to accept the violation and then pay through a gateway or challenge it. You can also track the violations you reported. You can track the status, whether or not the owner of the vehicle has been fined, and the status.

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Did you work with the government before Ojutiti came to be?

Not at all. We never had any business with the government before that time.

Why did you decide to involve the government? Did you not have plans to make profit?

Of course, it was meant to be profitable. What we proposed to the government was that we would build the application, manage the backend and everything. They would need to give us some support staff that would also assist in reviewing violations. The government didn’t have to build anything.

The revenue was supposed to be from the fines. When the fine is paid, right? The government would take 60 percent, we would get 35 percent, and we would pay the citizens about five percent of the fine charged for each violation. We had high hopes. We projected that we would get downloads and a lot of reports.

How did you approach the government? How did you get them to pay attention to your solution?

We had finished developing the application and we had settled for Ojutiti. The name sounded so apt, you know. It is a Yoruba word that could mean two things. It could either mean ”the road’ or ‘the eye of the road’. We finished all of that in 2014.

In 2015, when Ambode became governor, he looked like he was open to ideas. I sent him an email. He was gracious enough to engage us through the commissioner of transport at that time. That is Dr. Dayo Moboreola.

Email written to Ambode in 2015

We were asked to come present our ideas. We made a presentation to some government stakeholders then. We demonstrated our application and how it worked. This was November 15, 2015. They applauded it.

What were the challenges that you faced in the process of developing this application? Is there, like, any major one that you think is worth discussing?

My tech expertise is pretty limited. So, of course, I had to engage a few developers. I did a part of it on the front end. But on the back end, I had to engage developers. The main problem I had was a lack of expertise. But, you know, as an application, it wasn’t impossible to build.

You said earlier that you wrote an email to Ambode. Did it take long to get a response?

I didn’t get an email response from him. But I got a letter from the Lagos Government through the Ministry of Transport. The letter was inviting us for a presentation in November 2015.

Letter of Invitation written to PSW after the first meeting with the Ministry of Transport

You mentioned Dr. Dayo Moboreola. Were there other government stakeholders involved during the presentation of Ojutiti and in subsequent meetings?

At the first presentation, Dayo Moboreola chaired. He was the commissioner of transport at the time. There was a special advisor on transportation, Anofi Elegusi. He was there. The director of transport engineering, Frederick Olofin, was at that meeting. Eji Toriola, who was then the director of the State Vehicle Inspection Service, was there.

Lateef Lawal, who was General Manager, Lagos State Motor Vehicle Administration Agency, was there. Ogunsonya, a director at the Lagos State Motor Vehicle Administration Agency, was there. Aditimoro Isaac, Deputy Controller, Planning and Research, LASTMA. They essentially brought everyone who had a stake and a bit of expertise in transportation in the state.

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Can you recall how many times you met over this with the Lagos State Government?

About four times officially, between 2015 and 2017. There were other times. We had unofficial meetings when we called in to talk about Ojutiti. The last official letter I received was in 2017. After that, they stopped correspondence. They just vanished on us. We sometimes called, but they would not answer. We tried reaching the commissioner, but they told us that he was busy. We wanted to know the status, the decision and what else they needed us to do. But, officially, we met about four times.

Letter notifying PSW of the need to re-present after addressing the issues raised

How did the engagements with the government play out the four times that you met?

I had come to conclude at the end that they were playing games with us. That’s all I would say. We initially presented this idea and they applauded it. This was in 2015. They had some issues, which they highlighted after the presentation for us to address. These things happen, you know. We addressed these issues extensively. After that, they wrote us another letter to come present. That is summarily the bulk of it.

Letter written to invite PSW to a meeting in 2016

Letter written to invite PSW to a meeting in 2016

The last email we got was to come and do another presentation on the 11th of January 2017. So, for me, I just think they were playing games with us. We presented. We held further meetings, and we had representations. We answered all the questions, and we minuted the meetings, the questions and the answers appropriately all of these times.

Final letter from the Lagos State Government written to PSW for a meeting in 2017

They didn’t officially communicate at any other time after the January 2017 engagement. A simple “Oh, we already have a similar plan and we cannot proceed with yours or your idea” is good, but “We can’t proceed” would have sufficed. They just stopped talking, and that was it. We got to a point when they started ignoring phone calls. We had to physically visit the Ministry of Transport a couple of times. They were always busy – in meetings, attending to things and all that.

A government-stamped document addressed all the issues raised by the Ministry of Transport during the presentations

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EQ has checked with the Copyright Commission, and we can see that you registered in 2016. What was the idea when you decided to copyright it? What was the process like with the Copyright Commission?

It was basically the same idea we presented to the Lagos state government that we copyrighted. I had to ask a few lawyers about the process for copywriting because I’m not a lawyer. I just thought to myself that it was appropriate to copyright it based on the fact that I would be exposing it to a number of people. Also, it was an original work that we developed. I wasn’t so sure whether or not it was patent or copyright to do. And I was told it was copyright.

Proof that Ojutiti is indeed copyrighted from the web-portal of the National Copyrights Commission

So, I had to engage a lawyer. Also, I just had to cede the app to PSW Ltd., despite it being my idea. And after that, through PSW Ltd., a copyright notification was filed with the Copyright Commission. And then they gave us a certificate for the notification that we filed as an original work.

How and when did you learn about the Lagos State Transport Management Solution?

Well, I saw a publication in 2019 that Lagos State wanted to launch a mobile device to electronically track and issue tickets to traffic law violators. When I saw that, I thought it sounded similar to Ojutiti in a way. So I spoke to a lawyer friend and he told me that I did not need to conclude that it was the same thing. He also told me that I did not need to worry since I had copyright and evidence that I had presented the idea.

After 2019, I didn’t really make any contact. I didn’t see anything. It was not until 2022 that I started to see more information about TMS. I learned what it was and the process it operated by. They restricted it to LASTMA at the time. When we looked at the entire model in terms of reporting, it was exactly the same thing we had presented. You record the violation in a video, you push a notification to the offender’s phone, capturing the details, his number plate and all that. It wasn’t even as detailed as what we configured in our messaging. The offender clicks on the message, opens the page and pays the fine or challenges it. There was no difference.

What was the reaction when you found out about the TMS?

It was shock. The full detail of the TMS didn’t even get to me until 2023, after I made a few calls. When they launched it officially and started to capture violations, that was when I could really check what the interface was like from the violation messages. Of course, I was horrified. I remember calling the former commissioner, Dr. Dayo. I also contacted one of the, I think, special advisors.

Dr. Dayo responded in a message that I should write a letter to the governor complaining about it, and I did. I tried to talk to one or two people in the Ministry of Transport. One of them responded and said he was shocked that they still went ahead to launch this. The other person did not even answer me. He only answered the voice call once, and after that, he stopped. Yes, so we started to explore our options.

Interface of the LASTMA TMS

Interface of the LASTMA TMS

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Which options did you explore? What steps did you take?

We wrote to the governor’s office, but there was no response. We wrote reminders, and there were no responses. We also petitioned the Copyright Commission, notifying them about the violation, right? And they filed an official invitation. They sent to us and invited the Lagos State Government. It took them forever to assign a representative. They stalled for long. It took about three, four months before they eventually responded.

Letter written to the Lagos State Governor

Letter written to the Lagos State Governor

What were the resolutions at the commission? What were the meetings like?

We went to the Copyright Commission. They invited us for a joint meeting. I was aghast at what the official of the government was saying. First, the director of legal [duties] at the Ministry of Transport initially accused me of reporting him to the governor. He said the letter to the governor was indicting him for not doing his job. He was just very offensive.

I told him I had issues to address and wasn’t there for anything personaI at all; there was really no defence. The next thing we know, they pushed responsibility to a vendor who they claimed brought the idea to them and launched it with them. I asked them why they didn’t feed us back between 2015, 2017 and then. They also tried to play this card. They said all the people in the ministry at the time had left.

The only person that was left in the ministry said he initially left and returned. He said he was shocked that the TMS was even launched. They didn’t have any coherent defence. They pushed responsibility to this third party. The Copyright Commission said they would organise a joint session again with this third party. We’ve not heard anything from them since then. It has been more than eight months, I think.

As a matter of fact, I will tell you also that, while we were at the Copyright Commission, the director of legal [duties] said something in Yoruba that ‘Otilo niyen’. He said this idea is gone, and that I should bring another idea. I was shocked at that reaction.

So the commission has not done anything substantial? What about these other vendors? Did you hear anything from them? Did you meet them?

I didn’t hear anything from them. You know, I didn’t hear anything from the commission and the vendors. And, honestly, I don’t think I have any business with these so-called vendors. I presented to the government; I filed copyright with the commission. The TMS was launched in the name of the government. They should be addressing this.

Would you have executed this differently if you had the chance, considering the sequence of events since you engaged the government?

Looking at it right now, we would have launched the application ourselves, run it and onboarded people. The government would see it regardless, and we would have even built a catalog of violation reports. We could have had the basis to tell the government that we had say 1,000, 10,000, or 15,000 violations. Everybody would have seen it and used it. I thought we could trust the government. We never thought that they would just proceed to implement it without our consent.

In hindsight, we should have done that. We built a social media following, you know. We ran PR at the time. We created social media pages on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. And we engaged people back then. We limited our engagements because we were liaising with the government. We didn’t really expose the app to people. Our thought back then was that it was better for us to engage the government and get an approval before Ojutiti began to capture more people.

What legal steps have you taken to address this situation?

January this year, I spoke to someone in the government. I briefed him and he was shocked. He asked me whether I had a copyright and I told him yes. He told me that could give me a chance. It was then I understood that this could be how the government worked.

Letter written to the Lagos State Government by Femi Falana’s law firm

I decided to engage Mr. Femi Falana. When I presented the details to him, he was very upset and promised to engage the government officially. A letter was sent to the governor’s office. And then, about half a month later, there was a response from the office of the attorney general. But since that one response, we’ve not got anything. About three weeks ago, another reminder letter was sent. We don’t have any response.

Coming back to PSW now. How has this affected the brand’s operation, finances and standing?

It was expensive. Developing the app cost money; publishing the application cost money. Every year you need to spend money for your hosting and all that. We just retained the domain, retained the name. We have all the APK files if we need to open it again. We had to pay developers, as I said. We also did some PR in newspapers back then. We did some interviews in 2015 just to build some sensitisation. ‘The financial implication is significant’ is what I will say.

We also had revenue expectations. I would categorise our revenue projections as a financial loss. We had revenue projections for a five-year period. We expected to have recorded at least two and a half million violations at the time.

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What does this mean for you as far as trust in the government is concerned?

Generally, when things like this happen, people become sceptical to engage the government. There is some distrust. And it further alienates people from government itself. As a citizen, I’m asking myself if this what I get at the end of the day after thinking of a smart way to solve a problem.

There are so many ideas out there. But I tell myself, “Why would I want to even share anything else? Why would I want to present anything to the government in this circumstance?” And I know there are millions of Nigerians like me, or thousands of Nigerians like me, people with ideas, who possibly would want to engage the government. But with the government that I can see, which is not responsive, which is very cruel, if they can just poach ideas like that, you just start to get angry, frustrated and disconnected.

I think that’s why a lot of bright minds are just considering leaving the region as an option. I would rather be in a country where, when I present ideas and solutions to the people that matter, they would take them up and adopt them into something beautiful instead of sidelining me.

There are so many problem solvers all over the place that want to just solve problems. But when you find yourself in an environment that just stifles your idea, why would you want to engage the government? How would you engage them? Won’t they proceed to do what they have done to us?

Do you think that after this interview, the government could come at you? Are you prepared for any blowback?

Well, I won’t be surprised now. Given the history and things that have happened, I won’t be surprised. All I know is, I wanted progress and solutions. I presented this to them because of that. But the reaction I have got is disappointing and pretty frustrating. This is my own story, my legitimate story. I have shared my experience as it happened without adding anything or removing anything from it.

What happens if the government doesn’t address this? Do you have any plans to go further to seek compensation? 

I have established that there was an infringement of my rights. There are limits to my legal knowledge, and that’s why I’ve engaged a lawyer and a law firm of repute. At that point, I know that they will advise on the next thing and the best steps to take.

EQ contacted the Lagos State Ministry of Transport on Thursday, July 26, using the email address listed on the agency’s website. On Friday, EQ resent the same message, copying the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency, the general Lagos State email, and the Ministry of Justice. EQ also reached out to Gboyega Akosile, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Media and Publicity. However, as of press time, none of them had responded.
The post INTERVIEW: How Lagos Gov’t Stole My Copyrighted Traffic Management Solution — Oladapo Olawale appeared first on Exposed.Quest The Quest for X !.