Gridlock: Ambode orders strict enforcement of traffic laws … as LASTMA loses 18 officials in one year
By Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Sunday ordered the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and relevant security agencies to strictly enforce the provisions of the state traffic laws to bring about sanity on the roads.
Ambode also ordered the state Attorney General and the Ministry of Justice to immediately increase the number of mobile courts in the state to 20 to summarily prosecute traffic offenders.
This is as he revealed that LASTMA lost a total of 18 officers on their line of duty, in the last one year, the latest being Rotimi Adeyemi, who was shot dead by a police inspector, while controlling traffic in Iyana Ipaja area of the state last month.
Speaking with reporters after a strategic session with LASTMA leadership and heads of other security agencies in Oshodi, Ambode said the government would no longer accept the violation of the state traffic laws.
“Government will go down and deal squarely with any traffic offender from this moment onward. We cannot allow people to continue to commit offences for which we need to discipline for. We don’t want people to take advantage and say this is Christmas or election period, we have majority of our people to protect and we have the majority of our people to use the roads safely. So, we will not allow traffic offenders to go scot-free anymore,” Ambode said.
He said aside the mobile courts, more policemen had also been deployed to patrol the nooks and crannies of the state to ensure security and free flow of traffic.
Meanwhile, the governor had commiserated with LASTMA over the killing of one of its officers, Rotimi Adeyemo. He said the incident was one too many, revealing that a total of 18 officers were lost to such unfortunate situation, and 24 permanently incapacitated in various hospitals in the last one year.
“Just last week, we lost one of our LASTMA officers in the person of Rotimi Adeyemo who met his untimely death while controlling traffic. So, I have come here on behalf of government to commiserate with all the LASTMA officers in their office. Now, I want Lagosians to understand something and that is as at today, we have lost eighteen LASTMA officers while performing their lawful duty on behalf of the State, and another twenty-four are permanently incapacitated in various hospitals just this year alone as I speak.
“We have not been churning out this data just because we believe Lagosians will understand that these men and women that we put on the line of duty are harmless and they don’t have anything to protect them than just traffic laws which they are enforcing.
“This is a sober moment for us but again I need to encourage and further appeal to all our law enforcement officers, most especially LASTMA officers that this government is with them and we would do everything to protect their lives and also create an atmosphere to allow them to do their work properly,” the governor said, just as he announced the approval of N10 million compensation to the family of the deceased officer.
Also, the Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, said the synergy between the security agencies and traffic officers would now be intensified to ensure that they were safe and they work longer periods, just as urged Lagosians to continue to be law abiding and promptly report any security breach around them.