Post by Matthew Olajide (@olufemy1)

In 1970, four Lagos officials travelled to Sweden and paid £68,000 for 98 used buses to serve as city buses in central Lagos.

Four months later, the deal became a media scandal in Sweden after reports revealed that the buses were already 17 years old and had been marked for demolition because they were no longer considered roadworthy.

The Swedish State Commission for Traffic Safety said there were no spare parts available to restore them. Yet, by the time of the report, 30 of the buses had been retouched and were ready for shipment to Nigeria.

New Nigerian newspaper observed: "One wonders how buses unsuitable for Stockholm roads can be used in Lagos."

Weeks into the investigation of the deal, it emerged that Lagos had actually paid £274,000 for the fleet of buses that the Swedish seller had originally bought for just £12,069.

When the buses arrived in Lagos in October 1970, they were accompanied on the same ship by three cars, one Austin Cambridge and two Opel Rekords, reportedly to be delivered to two officials of the Lagos City Transport Service (LCTS) who negotiated the controversial deal.

New Nigerian also reported that the Nigerian lawyer and politician, Chief A.M.A. Akinloye, introduced the LCTS to the Swedish seller and was paid about £14,000 for his role in the transaction, a claim he denied.

Once the buses were deployed, Lagosians nicknamed them "Robirobi buses" (meaning: deal buses) and "Oku Eko" (meaning: Lagos corpse) because they broke down so frequently, often leaving passengers stranded.

The military state government defended the purchase, arguing that Lagos urgently needed more buses to ease the city's transport shortage and meet growing public demand for mass transit.

*Me: Present day critics refer to those days as "The good old days", before corruption took over* 😂

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