As the country continues to battle the menace of oil theft and other operational issues that have hobbled production with devastating impacts on national revenue, it is understandable that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would want to keep a keen eye on the performance of the non-oil sector.  Only last week, a newspaper, referencing a CBN publication, stated among others that whereas the total receipt from the non-oil sector for the first quarter was $6.16 billion, that of the second quarter was $6.27 billion, thus bringing the cumulative haul in those first six months to$12.43 billion.

The report also found that: “The economy recorded a rise in the net foreign exchange inflow on account of increased receipts from crude oil, non-oil sources and invisible purchases. Foreign exchange inflow into the economy, increased by 12.7 per cent to $19.86 billion, compared with $17.62 billion in the preceding quarter”.

The report goes further to note that “”The development was driven by the 14.9 per cent and 11.1 per cent increased inflow through the CBN and the autonomous sources, respectively. Foreign exchange inflow through the bank, at $8.77 billion, rose above the $7.63 billion in the preceding quarter”. “Disaggregation shows that receipts from oil-related sources increased by 70.3 per cent to $2.50 billion, relative to the value in the first quarter”.

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Such reports, as indeed similar ones, although important, have hardly gone beyond serving as customary reminders of the possibilities in the non-oil sector. Even at that, the absence of complementary data showing the trend and the relative performance of different sectors obviously detracts from its analytical usefulness and could therefore be taken as being of limited value. More importantly of course is that Nigerians have long moved past such glossy, but sometimes confusing statistics that bears little or no relevance to the day-to-day economic realities. In any case, what the corresponding figures from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, clearly suggest is a situation more nuanced than is often presented by the apex bank.

In a country that has remained an import-dependent one, the more pertinent question is how much impact does the inflow have on the exchange rate, and, by extension, the forex market stabilisation. To the extent that the economy has remained in a flux, precisely because it lacks the requisite ability to finance critical imports on a sustainable basis, particularly with capacity still principally dependent on how much crude oil the country is able to sell, and with non-oil export proceeds and other invisible inflows only coming into reckoning more out of statistical interest than anything else, the answer would seem very obvious.

This is hardly a denial of the import of a number of measures introduced by the apex bank to galvanise domestic production, cut back on imports and, generally to encourage forex and capital inflows; rather, it is a reminder of the humongous work still ahead in the export sector.

The problems, hardly new, have long been dissected. Our export procedures remain as inflexible as they are cumbersome. Many of the nation’s indigenous actors have spoken of the red tape as akin to a nightmare. In other words, the years of port reforms and countless attempts to streamline export procedures have not changed anything to appreciable extent.

Meanwhile, domestic capacity, particularly in the areas of quality and standards, matched against global standards, still extremely poor, has not helped the situation. And, most crucially, many of the players in the export sector have not always played by the rule, particularly when it comes to repatriating the proceeds of their export trade.

These, rather than the current pre-occupation with unhelpful accounting, are what the Federal Government and the apex bank should focus on.

The tone of electioneering in the country, especially of the presidential race, is waxing bellicose. It does not augur well for the major stakeholders. It is just as well that the National Peace Committee (NPC) under former head of state Abdulsalami Abubakar and Bishop Matthew Kukah has issued a note of warning.

We have under a hundred days to the polls, and the nation is witnessing a drama of desperadoes.

It all began with accusations of physical assaults. When the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar visited Borno State, he accused the opponent All Progressives Congress (APC) of inciting some thugs to lob stones at his convoy. The APC denied it. Earlier at a campaign rally in Kaduna, they had lobbed accusations of violence against the ruling party. The ruling party denied it and said it was from a rival faction of the party. Investigations into the truths of these charges often are futile.

But it tells of the delicacy of the moment in our political life. What we have seen, ironically, is that the bulk of the incendiary assaults and harm come, so far, not from stones or guns. They come from the fingers that shoot with tweets, Instagram and Facebook comments, photos of questionable authenticity and outright claims and allegations that reside in insidious fantasies.

The NPC was unsparing in its caution. It says “all candidates will be held responsible for what is said on their behalf or of their party. Aggressive and abusive language only diminishes the integrity of the individuals, their candidates and their parties. Nigerians should be ready to punish instigators of violence by isolating them or their candidates.”

In the past week, for instance, it was not the Tweet or the Facebook comment that spelled discomfort. It was a false story broadcast by an up-and-coming broadcast station about one of the candidates, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Arise Television did not follow the tenets of simple journalism but transmitted a news report that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had begun investigation into an allegation that Tinubu was involved in narcotics. The story gained invidious traction online, and many had believed it. His opponents gloated while his supporters felt scandalised. It took the response of the INEC leadership to debunk the story before Arise Television issued a tepid apology.

This led to a fine of two million naira from the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). In spite of that, the station has maintained an adversarial overtone out of defiance.

Nor is it restricted to television stations. There are what many now call internet warriors who have been sponsored by their masters to weave fiction in the name of political news stories. They could be stories about health, or the past careers of persons, or shades thrown and innuendoes spun.

The Labour Party candidate has been warned to restrain his followers who swirl the online web. They have been known to distort the image of others and issue threats at persons who do not share their point of view.

Here is what the NPC says further: “”Nigerians are genuinely concerned, troubled and disappointed by the conduct and attitude of some of the political actors in the last few weeks. Nigerians have been fed a menu of intemperate language, intimidation and outright violence in the field of the campaigns. It is evident that some of our actors have not learnt any lessons from the past. There is an increasing tone of desperation, if not incitement, among some of the contestants and members of their parties. Intra and inter-party wranglings still persist, with occasions of violence. In desperation, some selfish political actors use these strategies to pursue their frivolous ambitions in the courts.”

We should note that the media had been accused in the past of stoking wars and conflicts. Media historians know that the media was one of the major culprits who stoked the Spanish-American War. Some historians have said it was exaggerated but made reference to the sensationalism of two newspapers, Joseph Pulitzer’s the New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s the New York Journal engrafted Yellow journalism, a bye-word for sensationalism, into the profession when the war broke out. Hearst was famous for the line, “You furnish the pictures, I’ll provide the war.”

It is the sort of temperament we eschew in today’s season. When the peace Accord was signed, the 18 registered presidential candidates and their running mates attended and appended their signatures to the document. It is a pact of peace.

One of the inciters of these spasms of violence is the position of spokesperson. The candidates should advise their mouthpieces to focus on facts and not scandal. Television anchors who post questions often want to sensationalise their programmes and attract high ratings by ratcheting up issues that often have no substance but had been resolved in the past.

The NPC’s cheering note that we should learn from the off-ramp polls in the past two years where the elections took place without subversion is important.

“All Nigerians can testify to this development through the successes recorded in the peaceful conduct of the off-cycle elections in Edo, Ondo, Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states,” The NPC observed. “We are not where we want to be yet, but we are right to assume that we can do more.”

We should pay attention to civility and a nation of togetherness rather than split us on the ambition of a few men.

Dilibe Onyeama, author, publisher and arts enthusiast who was the first black boy to graduate at Eton, the elite British College for boys founded in 1440 by Henry VI  just passed on. He had returned to Nigeria in 1981 and had written about 28 books, some of which have been published in at least four countries.

Dilibe came into global prominence after his first book, “Nigger At Eton” now published under another title, “Black boy at Eton” was published in Britain in 1974. The book was a chronicle of his experiences as a black boy in the elite British boarding school.

His father, Charles Dadi Onyeama, an Oxford graduate who went up to the Supreme Court of Nigeria and later became a judge at the International Criminal  Court of Justice (ICCJ) at the Hague, had registered him at birth. This action opened the vista for the fame Dilibe went on to achieve in life.

Being a black boy at Eton exposed the young Dilibe to systemic racism and he documented his experiences that a magazine serialised to global attention. Indeed, there were attempts to suppress the publications because the establishment didn’t like the expositions. Eton under then headmaster, Michael McCrum, banned him from the school, an action that in a way gave an adult angle to his experiences.

His books stand as evidence of his literary power, bravery, survivalist instincts, perseverance and sense of black nationalism. His 1976 book, ‘Sex is a Nigger’s Game’ roused further attention. Dilibe was not just a literary giant steeped in journalistic excellence, he used writing and his publishing company to ‘fight’ his Pan-Africanist racial battles. His focus was in proving to racists everywhere that intellectual prowess, entertainment talents and sports ingenuity were not exclusive to any race.  At Eton, he fought racism with everything he had, brain, physical strength and social and emotional intelligence.

He was a good student, excelled in sports, drama, debates and claimed he gave a few bullies some bloody nose with his boxing talent as a defence mechanism. He was a one-man-riot-squad against the racist mobs. His black power salute after acting a slave role in Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ had a triumphant impact as that again shored up his reputation and confidence not to be apologetic for his humanity. That was a masterstroke.

He invested in book publishing with a purpose; he mentored young and innovative authors and concentrated mostly on Pan –African themes. His Delta Publishing Company published books like; Nkrumah The Man, Yesterday’s Africans, Heroes of West African Nationalism, Modern Messiah, African Legends, etc.

His odyssey in retrospect seems as much a divine providence as it was also of personal choice and determination to live an impactful life with his education, experiences and resources. He contributed to pointing out the existential contradictions, paradoxes and hypocrisies of life both at home and in Britain. However, his books were not just about negatives inherent in racism, he balanced his stories, he loved the British system that is as ordered as it is functional. He loved his roots, culture and enjoyed his social life.

Dilibe as his name implied in his Igbo language means one who lives for others; with his faithfulness to black nationalism, he proved himself an authentic black man who had no interest in being apologetic for either his colour or privileges. His searchlight on racism at such a young age in a way points the torch to civil and human rights advocacy beyond the popular narrative that seems to credit only black Americans as only those who challenged racism. To us, changing his book to “Black Boy At Eton” is an attempt at watering down history and being politically correct. The authenticity/originality should be maintained historically.

The rescinding of his Eton ban on the heels of the George Floyd murder case in 2020 and his recall to visit Eton has been described by many as a subtle socio-political move by Britain at addressing racism amidst the uproar over royal attitudinal exclusion as seen with the marriage of Prince Harry to Meghan Markel and the resurgence of ‘Black lives Matter’ movements and the refocusing of attention on colonialism and effects of slavery.

Dilibe through his choices and works had lived for others. That is the definition of immortality! Adieu.

Former Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Daniel Itse Amah was lately pole-vaulted to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) by the Police Service Commission (PSC) – a rare case of career leapfrog in the security establishment. This was shortly after he was promoted to CSP from his original rank of Superintendent of Police (SP). He was rewarded with the special promotion and also awarded one million naira cash for maintaining the integrity of police service, having rejected a $200,000 bribe to drop an armed robbery case.

It has been a harvest of honours for Amah, an indigene of Plateau State who joined the police force as a Cadet Inspector in 2002 and was until his latest promotion a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Bompai police station, Nasarawa council area of Kano State. On October 4, he had the privilege of a presidential handshake and was conferred with the 2022 Public Service Integrity Award by President Muhammadu Buhari during the 4th National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, in collaboration with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, OSGF, among others.

At another event by the service commission last week in Amah’s honour, PSC chairperson Justice Clara Ogunbiyi, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, said Amah embodied integrity and good character deserving of a police officer, adding that the reward and special promotion would serve as morale booster for all police officers to do the right thing always. Recounting Amah’s exploits, she said a matter was reported to him on April 24, that one suspect named Ali Zaki had convinced some bureau de change operators that he had $750,000 he planned to sell to them at N430 / dollar, equating to N322,500,000. “After a bank staff confirmed the availability of the money at the bank to the victims, the transaction took place. However, the suspect arranged with armed robbers to track and rob the victims while they were transporting the money,” Justice Ogunbiyi narrated, adding: “When the matter was reported to the police division in Kano State where SP Daniel Amah was the DPO, they commenced investigations. In the course of the investigation, they traced the principal suspect, Zaki, who offered $200,000 to the SP through a bank staff to kill the case.” According to her, “the offer was rejected, the bank staff was promptly arrested, which led to the arrest of the suspect. The $200,000 was recovered and registered as an exhibit.”

Following the case, Amah was about two months ago promoted as CSP. But the PSC chairperson said he deserved more than that to encourage police officers in the country. She announced his special promotion to the rank of ACP and also awarded him one million naira cash reward last week, saying: “The law that established this commission permits us to recognise outstanding police officers by promoting them.” Speaking to journalists at the event, Amah recalled that friends and family members initially scolded him for rejecting the huge bribe and called him different names. He added, however, that those who initially scolded him later congratulated him when government noticed and rewarded his act.

By all means, Amah deserves all the honours coming to him for his rare integrity in an institution notorious for corruption and dishonourable conduct by many of its personnel. At the integrity award in October, ICPC Chairman Professor Bolaji Owasanoye described the police officer as a distinguished public servant who against all odds refused to be corrupted or compromised. “We are particularly delighted that the awardee is from the Nigeria Police, an institution often much-derided, maligned and under-appreciated,” he had said. Amah is a moral beacon and role model worthy of emulation – not just by police personnel but all public officials. He is a worthy poster boy of the self-defining crusade against corruption by the Muhammadu Buhari presidency. It is also laudable that the PSC under Justice Ogunbiyi championed exceptional reward for Amah, marking a trend of institutional recognition of not just operational performance but also moral character.

Amah has set a high standard that should challenge the entire workforce of the Nigerian police establishment to reconstruct its image. But it isn’t the final act expected of he himself. To whom much is given, much more is expected.

It remains to be seen if train services will resume on the Abuja-Kaduna route this month as stated by Minister of Transportation Mu’azu Sambo on November 7. “This month of November, we shall resume that service,” he told journalists.

He did not give a specific date, which fuelled speculations.  Managing Director of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) Fidet Okhiria explained that the Federal Government was making efforts “to bring this to life” before the end of this month.

The NRC had stopped operations on the route in March following an audacious terrorist train attack. The corporation had said there were 362 people on board the train when it was attacked. Tragically, eight people were killed, 41 injured and 62 kidnapped.

The hostages were released in batches, some of them reported to have paid ransom. The last batch of 23 captives gained freedom on October 5 after a nightmarish six months, following an operation said to have involved the Nigerian military and “all sister security agencies and the Federal Ministry of Transportation.”

There was no question that the terrorists had succeeded because of questionable security. It was inexcusable that there was no security when they struck.

This attack highlighted the rail security issue.  It was absurd that the rail system was unaccompanied by adequate security in the first place. The point was clear and incontrovertible: The country’s rail system urgently needed effective security not only to protect facilities but also to ensure safety of rail users.

Sambo said “lessons have been learned.”  He gave an idea of “the measures we have put in place,” mentioning “safety and security surveillance, constant monitoring 24/7 and seven days a week, 12 months a year, all around the clock.” He added: “The minister should be able to sit in his office and look at the rail corridor and see what is happening there. The president should be able to do that. The director-general of the state security service (SSS) should be able to do that and so on and all other security agencies.”

The minister’s words suggest that rail security has been improved, but this has to be demonstrated.  It is not enough to say that security has been strengthened; such improvement needs to be proved.

Notably, leaked minutes of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of September 24, 2021, which hit the headlines in April, had exposed discord between the then minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and FEC co-members over a proposed surveillance system.

Amaechi had asked the council to “approve the award of contract for the procurement and installation of electronic surveillance system and interrogation unit on the Abuja (Idu)-Kaduna (Rigasa) 200km railway monitoring rail intrusion detection system and emergency response system in favour of Messrs Mogjan Nigeria Limited/Cagewox Dot Net Limited in the sum of N3, 780,827,410.66 inclusive of 7.5 per cent VAT with a completion period of four months.”

According to the minutes, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who chaired the FEC meeting, “directed that in view of the observation raised by members, there was a need for the ministry to provide further description of the equipment, its brand name, manufacturer and how it worked.”

The surveillance system had not been installed when the shocking train attack happened about six months later. It is unclear if the information on improved rail security provided by the current minister of transportation was based on the installation of the same surveillance system or another one.

It is noteworthy that Okhiria, in September, had counted the corporation’s losses in terms of naira, saying it lost N531m between March and August “through the expected ticket sales” on the route. The security issue transcends the corporation’s monetary loss.

There should be no hurry to resume train services on the route without ensuring security. Importantly, beyond the Abuja-Kaduna route, there should be comprehensive security on all rail routes in the country.

Rather than keep bickering over which agency did this or didn’t do that in the course of the flooding which affected many states in the country recently, what the relevant agencies in charge of such disasters should be doing now is a review of their handling of the situation. This will enable them cope with the situation better in the future. Heaping the blame upon a ministry which is just one of the agencies that should handle the issue is unhelpful and would never allow for any lessons to be learnt from the terrible experience.

This year’s flooding has been particularly devastating globally. Not even the advanced countries were spared. Of course, global warming has remained the culprit, a thing that the developed countries are now prevailing on the developed countries to curb after taking advantage of it to grow their own economies. Even if the developing countries must heed this piece of advice, would it not be appropriate for the developed world to first compensate the developing countries that are also suffering from the effects of what they did not benefit from? Anyway, that is a matter for another day.

Despite the flooding being a global phenomenon, particularly this year, what we experienced in Nigeria was largely manmade. It was the usual ‘Nigerian factor’ at work. Many states were simply caught unawares, despite the early warning signals. We can only imagine what the situation would have been like in a place like Lagos, but for the proactive measures adopted by successive governments in the state, especially since 1999. This is the reason why the flash floods that accompany heavy rainfall in many parts of the state recede in a few days, in spite of the fact that the state is below the sea level. Some other states that have adopted the Lagos template are also benefitting from their proactiveness.

However, the situation in many states is that the governments do nothing until disaster strikes. Kogi State, for instance, knows it is a confluence state. How much of the rivers Niger and Benue has it dredged to minimise the effect of flooding should these rivers overflow their banks? Moreover, all states in the country take ecological fund. But how many of them spend the money for ecological purposes? We witnessed how some state governments diverted bailout funds on more than one occasion when the Federal Government gave them the handouts a few years ago. The kind of financial recklessness in some states is such that monies are easily diverted without any regard for accountability or transparency. This is precisely what happens in many states in the country.

For record purposes, the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development which appears to be at the butt of criticisms on the flooding has put in the public domain some of the actions it took long before the rains came. Sequel to the predictions by both the National Meteorological Agency (NIMET) in its Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) for 2022, and Nigerian Hydrological Service Agency (NIHSA) 2022 in its Annual Flood Outlook (AFO), the ministry directed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to swing into action, based on the data provided by these agencies. Furthermore, the ministry said it wrote to state governors on the looming disaster early in the year and even held a national consultative workshop on preparedness for the flood, mitigation as well as response to it.  It also said it held press conferences and had radio and television appearances to sensitise Nigerians to the impending disaster.

That the floods still wreaked so much havoc was indication that many  agencies, including state governments that should have minimised its impact did little or nothing to stem it. It is inexplicable that an estimated 612 persons were killed by the floods which affected 3,219,780 persons, displaced 1,427,370 and injured at least 2,776. This was in addition to landed properties and farmlands that were either totally or partially destroyed by the raging floods.

Many state governments failed to prepare for the rains and its accompanying floods; they were more interested in the quantum of relief materials NEMA had to offer. They then suddenly realised that both NEMA and the ministry did not distribute the relief items well. Would it not have been better if the governors had done their own part and thus minimise their states’ need for relief items? Did governors need anyone to write to intimate them the details of NIMET and NIHSA’s reports before doing their bit in their respective states, after all these reports were there in the public domain for whom they may concern? We can keep on asking questions but that too is like crying over spilled milk.

All said, this year’s floods should be a wake-up call to all the relevant agencies. The Federal Government should accord priority attention to the construction of the Dasin Hausa Dam in line with the agreement it had with Cameroon several years ago. The dam is to buffer the effects of the release of water from Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam. State governments too should do their bit. When all the stakeholders live up to expectation, even where flooding is experienced, it would be flash floods as they would recede in a matter of days. The ministry of humanitarian affairs is basically to coordinate humanitarian affairs in the country. It is not to construct channels for flood. And if its duty is to coordinate, there must be some things on ground to coordinate. That cannot be done in a vacuum.

If the advent of technology has made banking financial transactions convenient and seamless, one of the more noticeable of its dark correlates is the rising cases of theft or illegal deductions of consumer funds. With each passing day, not only do Nigerians record cases of illegal deductions from their accounts, cases of inexplicable charges and excessive/hidden fees have assumed frightening dimensions. Unfortunately, it appears that these are not receiving the kind of attention that it truly deserves.

Across the board, the new norm is for the banks to pass the buck even when consumers have genuine basis to complain of infractions. Where customers expect prompt action, non-responsive, if not outright irresponsible treatment of genuine complaints has become standard. When the bank customer is not being told to wait indeterminably for long periods for issues requiring urgent attention, they are dismissed off-hand even without the basic duty of looking onto the merit of specific cases. In most cases, bank officials have tended to act as if the services they render are a kind of favour or a social service to the customer.

In almost all cases, the bank customer is deemed the guilty party even before the facts are fully joined.

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As one might expect in a situation of unequal power relations, it is, to borrow the Biblical saying, easier for the camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a hapless bank depositor to get complaints resolved to his satisfaction.

No doubt, it is tempting to blame the current situation on either the absence of, or inadequacy of the applicable rules as it were. But that would be glossing over the express provisions contained in several circulars of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the matter. Many of the circulars not only outline the procedures for settling complaints but make it mandatory for the banks to render monthly returns on consumer issues that arose, the steps taken to resolve them, including those still pending resolution. In any case, were the applicable regulations to have become inadequate over time as a result of the increasing complexity and dynamism of the sector, the way to go is not to leave the hapless bank customers to the hounds but to review them.

On the other hand, it is not like banks do not have their complaints desks. Rather, it is their unwillingness to put them to work to the satisfaction of their customers that is the main issue. In any case, many of them would rather protect the corporate infractions of their employers than do their duty by the public. As it is, increasing number of Nigerians are more than frustrated that the banks are not only ripping them off their hard-earned savings, but the fact that there is no one to complain to.

The trend is certainly fraught with dangers. First, it certainly undermines the faith of the ordinary citizen in the system, something that does not bode well for the financial services industry in the long run; needless to state that the development strikes at the heart of the quest for a cashless system – rendering it a joke, somewhat. Over all, it conveys an impression of a foot-loose system where any actor could do as he or she pleases.

It is high time the CBN waded into the matter. It has a big role to ensure that the banks comply with the extant rules governing their handling of consumer complaints. An industry-wide standard operating procedure to guide the activities of the banks has become an imperative, even now. It calls for deliberate measures to buoy the confidence of the banking public. The bankers’ professional body – the Chartered Institute of Bankers also has a big role to play here.

The Lagos State Government has made clear it will be wrong for officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) to arrest motorists for alleged infractions on roads without clearly marked traffic signs. Commissioner for Information and Strategy Gbenga Omotoso was reported saying the state government, through its ministry of transportation, undertakes routine surveillance of roads to ensure they are properly marked with necessary signs to guide motorists, and that traffic lights too are functional. He, however, noted that with the government’s best efforts, vandals frequently remove or deface installed signs on some of the state’s more than 9,000 roads.

In a recent interview with The Punch newspaper, Omotoso said installed traffic signs are often vandalised or stolen because the materials used in making them are criminally recycled to other ends. But the transportation ministry, according to him, has a dedicated team that goes round to see where traffic signs have been vandalised or defaced. “The team goes on to tell the ministry where road signs do not exist and where they should be. And not just road signs; this applies to traffic lights, too.” Where despite these efforts, there are no road signs necessary to guide motorists, it will be wrong for LASTMA officials to apprehend motorists for infractions, he said.

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Answering to a question about unmarked one-way routes, the commissioner said: “It will be very wrong for any official to arrest somebody for committing an offence where there’s no sign. If you don’t see any sign where there’s meant to be, it is because the signs were stolen, moved, or vandalised.” Against allegations that government officials are complicit in defacing the road signs, just so to lure motorists into a trap, Omotoso argued that such allegations were not proven. He, however, said: “If anybody removes any road sign, whether government officials or civilians, it is punishable by law. It is damage to public property.” On charges of extortion of motorists by LASTMA officials, the commissioner advised: “LASTMA is a paramilitary agency that is built on discipline. Anytime the pillar is shaken, the leadership will move to restore credibility to LASTMA. If any official is seen doing anything wrong, note the official and take it to LASTMA.”

These clarifications by Omotoso are very helpful because there is widespread perception of high-handedness and vindictiveness by officials of the traffic agency among Lagos State residents. There have been reports of LASTMA personnel laying ambush in places where there are no road signs at all, or where such signs are badly defaced, only to intercept motorists for traffic violations they couldn’t have helped by virtue of the absence of requisite signs to guide them. There have indeed been reports of officials of the agency deliberately misdirecting motorists where there are no installed signs, only for other agency officials laying ambush ahead to pounce on such motorists for infractions they were deliberately misled into by officials they had looked onto to guide them aright.

LASTMA is an agency of the Lagos State transportation ministry established in 2000 to transform the state transportation system by ensuring free flow of traffic in the state and also curb road accidents. Recently, the agency’s general manager, Bolaji Oreagba, said its major function was to control traffic, but its duties also include enforcement of traffic laws. The agency has over the years impacted positively on Lagos traffic, but there is a general perception of its personnel witch-hunting Lagos motorists and many atimes obstructing, rather than facilitating traffic flow on Lagos roads. This is a perception that must be corrected – both by the agency’s leadership and personnel themselves, and by strict oversight of Lagos State government through its transportation ministry.

On the other hand, the clarification by Omotoso reinforces the onus on government to ensure there are clearly visible traffic signs installed on the roads – both those belonging to the state and others to the Federal Government. If errant motorists will be held to account for infringing traffic law, there must be a just basis for doing that. After all, as they say, he that comes to equity must come with clean hands.