The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority has admonished content creators to respect the privacy or fellow passengers and seek their consent before making their videos and posting them on social media.

The LAMATA Head of communications, Kolawole Ojelabi, gave the advice in a statement on Wednesday, following a viral video showing a female bus official engaging in a scuffle with a lady passenger, who filmed stranded commuters and called out the state government to provide more buses.

The female passenger making a video complained about the non-availability of BRT buses, when the bus officer, attempted to disposes her of her phone, insisting that if she should go make her video at the garage. Some passengers cautioned the bus official.

In response to the video posted online by an Instagram content creator, @darksimned.ella, Mr Ojelabi said, “LAMATA wishes to advise content creators to be mindful of existing privacy laws when producing and sharing content on public transport. We have received complaints from commuters regarding the unauthorised capture and publication of their images and videos online.

“Content creators are therefore urged to respect the privacy of passengers and obtain appropriate consent where necessary. LAMATA will not be held responsible for any breach of commuters’ privacy resulting from content created or published by third parties.”

LAMATA stated that the supervisor involved in the scuffle was not their employee, but that of a private bus company.

Though aknowledging the challenges faced by commuters, including the encounter between the passenger and bus supervisor, LAMATA did not respond to her allegation that the buses were hired by private individuals, thereby causing several passengers to be stranded at bus stations.

Blaming the surge in the number of passengers on “the relatively affordable and reliable services available within the regulated public transport system,” Mr Ojelabi said LAMATA, in a move to address the growing demand, “is actively working with private sector partners to accelerate the introduction of more buses into the system.”

The state government encouraged investors and operators to invest and participate in the public transport ecosystem by contributing to the fleet capacity, needed to move Lagos efficiently and sustainably.

Recall that on Monday, the female content creator posted a video from Ikorodu bus terminal complaining about the shortage of BRT buses and how people struggle every morning after leaving their houses extremely early to get buses to work.

She called on the Lagos State government to provide more buses to ease the daily transit for commuters.

In a follow-up video she posted on Tuesday, she showed passengers urging her to stop recording, to save herself from issues that might arise, however she vowed to continue making videos until more buses were provided.

On Wednesday, she posted a video showing a woman threatening to seize her phone while she filmed.

The lady was seen grabbing her hand and shouting “If you make any video today I’ll seize your phone.”

Another man also confronted her, warning her against filming, and she claimed that the man threatened to deal with her.

She later alleged that most BRT buses had been chartered for an event, leaving people stranded for hours.

On Thursday, the content creator posted a video of herself in an Uber going to work, saying that more buses had been provided at the terminal she normally used.

She thanked a UK-based tech entrepreneur, Keniye Koroye, for helping to create a Go-fund-me for her Uber rides after she was threatened.

She also shared a recorded call, allegedly from the Lagos State commissioner for information, Gbenga Omotoso who assured her that more buses would be provided.

In the recorded call, Mr Omotoso was quoted as saying, “If they are against you and they are trying to harass you, maybe they think they are defending the government now when they see the government beside you, they will know that you have not done anything wrong.”

In her video caption, she thanked everyone for their support and insisted she wasn’t backing down until enough buses were provided.

“I hope buses keep being provided like they said because if it doesn’t get provided, I’d make more videos and blur out people’s face. My intention was never to invade anyone’s privacy. I only tried to create awareness,” she added.