The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday summoned the General Manager of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Bashir Braimah, to explain the persistent gridlock on Lagos roads.
The call followed a motion moved by Moshood Oshun (Lagos Mainland II) and seconded by Yinka Ogundimu (APC-Agege II) under matters of urgent public importance.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the House blamed LASTMA for dereliction of duty which, they said had resulted to “unbearable” gridlock on the state’s roads.
Ogundimu said the traffic situation had become worse because of the negative attitude of most drivers, bad roads and negligence of LASTMA officers.
Jude Idimogu (PDP-Oshodi-Isolo 2) said the gridlock was as a result of the deliberate action of LASTMA officers in reaction to the call for civility by the state Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode.
“Many of the officers will be at the traffic prone areas, standing akimbo and be watching the situation unperturbed,” Idimogu said.
Idimogu said his approach to some of the traffic officers without disclosing his identity showed that the traffic officers were embittered by the governor’s pronouncement on their being civil.
Tunde Braimoh (APC-Kosofe II) alleged that LASTMA officers wanted to revolt against the good gesture of Ambode because the call to be civil in their operations had affected their extortions.
Braimoh said: “Now that the governor came up with a modern way of enforcement, what the officers do now contradicts their ‘modus operandi’.
“If there is need to drop all of them and recruit others, we have to do so.
“They cannot disregard the law of the House and the state.”
Funmilayo Tejuosho (APC-Mushin II) said: “I agree that we have some rotten officers in LASTMA, which we have to weed out.”
Tejuosho alleged that some of the officers extorted money so much that they follow offenders to ATM to withdraw money for them without remitting the same to government purse.
Segun Olulade (APC-Epe II) said: “Transport situation has degenerated in the state because of lawlessness of drivers and LASTMA.
“I have seen some sort of collaboration in sabotaging the government.
“Some so called LASTMA disobey traffic laws.”
According to Olulade, the existing traffic laws passed by the Assembly must be complied with by all.
He said if there were problems in enforcing them, the LASTMA general manager should come for explanation.
The Majority Leader, Sanai Agunbiade (APC-Ikorodu 1), said Ambode’s intention in challenging the LASTMA officials to be civil was fair and good.
Agunbiade said: “The governor did not stop LASTMA officials from enforcing traffic laws.
“So, I wonder why commercial motorcyclists, otherwise called Okada riders, now ride on express roads with impunity.
“What the governor said was that ‘don’t jump into vehicles’.
“We need to enlighten our people more now that we have commissioners in place.
“We should call on the Commissioners for Information and that of Transportation to collaborate to enlighten the public on the real intention of the governor.”
Gbolahan Yishawu (APC-Eti-Osa 2) put the blame on the quality of drivers, stressing that most drivers obtained driver’s licence without knowing traffic rules and laws.
Yishawu said: “I believe there should be civility in the enforcement of traffic laws and there should be alternatives to LASTMA officials entering the vehicles of traffic offenders.
“The electronic monitoring system that was discussed here sometime ago should be included in the 2016 budget.”
Setonji David (APC-Badagry II) called for the construction of fly-over across major traffic flash points in the state to ease traffic.
The Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, said there was a deliberate action by LASTMA to sabotage the effort of the government
Obasa said: “No doubt about the inefficiency of our LASTMA officers now, as we have observed.
“We need to do something urgently about this.
“It is not out of place to invite the GM of LASTMA.
“It is not out of place to sack any of them that are not ready to perform.
“LASTMA was created to ensure easy follow of traffic, to create employment for able men and women but unfortunately what we are seeing now is bad.
“The governor also needs to take some drastic action.
“We can consider this as an act of sabotage.
“I wonder why five or 10 LASTMA officers will gather at a junction with traffic and none of them would try to intervene to ease traffic.”
The Speaker said there was a need for the state to map out plans to expedite actions on its intermodal transport system.
Obasa said: “We need to device other means of transportation different from road.
“We need to consider the sea and rail transportations.
“If we continue to neglect other means of transport, we will continue to have this problem.”
Obasa said the GM of LASTMA needed to appear before the House to explain to lawmakers and residents why there were persistent congestions on the roads.
NAN.
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