The Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration has repositioned the Lagos Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), empowering the agency to enforce traffic laws. But can its officials come away from the rent culture of milking the people? asks ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE.
By now you must have heard of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority’s (LASTMA’s) new slogan: “There’s a new sheriff in town”. It was the punch line from an advert that seeks to underscore the government’s zero tolerance to one-way driving (euphemism for driving against traffic).
A worrisome practice, one-way driving is fast emerging as most dreadful cause of fatal accidents on the Lagos roads. In the state’s Traffic Law 2012, as amended, ‘one way’ driving offenders are meant to undergo psychiatric test, forfeit the vehicle and pay fine or serve a jail term upon conviction by the mobile court.
But except where it was unavoidable, the immediate past governor, Akinwumi Ambode expressly stopped LASTMA, in the last four years, from enforcing arrests.
In his determination to move traffic, which was his major headache in power, former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode stopped LASTMA from jumping into vehicles in their bid to enforce the law.
But ‘the new Sheriff’, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has reversed the law, barely 24 hours after being sworn in with an order backing LASTMA, as the lead agency in charge of traffic management in the state.
On a visit to LASTMA headquarters, the governor emphasised that no one is above the law. He directed LASTMA officials not to spare anyone, including his relatives and cabinet members if caught flouting any of the traffic laws.
“I’ve told my family members, and I’m going to tell members of my cabinet that if they are caught violating traffic rules, they would be held accountable. You will pay the fines for any offence(s) committed,” the governor said.
As an incentive, Sanwo-Olu directed 100 per cent increment of the officials’ hazard allowance. He also promised that any traffic official, who falls sick in the course of duty, would be treated free of charge, adding that “to whom much is given, much is expected”.
Nothing has generated more attention among the public since the last week than the new powers handed down to LASTMA by the governor, especially as heavier sanctions now attend any defaulters of the state’s traffic laws.
Although the government had indicated that it would soon come with a policy to address driving against traffic, LASTMA started implementing the state’s Traffic Law as amended with a significant increase on the fines applicable to all traffic offences.
In the new amendment, offenders caught driving against traffic are liable to pay N200,000 fine, up from N50,000 as stipulated in the extant 2012 law.
Residents said the increment is fast creating a black economy that unscrupulous elements within the agency have started latching on, to line their pockets, rather than government coffers.
For instance, offenders, rather than being booked for one-way driving, now opt to settle out of court. What this means is that in most cases, they negotiate with LASTMA officials and pay some money to get off the hook.
A motorist, Ibijola Usman, who claimed to have observed such an incident last week, said what the new administration has done is to make “one-way offence the most lucrative for LASTMA officers”.
Penultimate Friday, the governor paraded two such culprits, LASTMA officials, who were arrested following investigation into a petition received from a motorist, who accused them of extortion. The petitioner alleged that he paid directly into the officers’ accounts.
The Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, while briefing his boss said the officers were arrested following investigation and would be handed over to the police for prosecution.
Warning the public against falling into such traps, Hamzat said no officer of the state is permitted to engage in any cash transaction, adding that any payment made into any account outside official accounts of the state should be promptly reported.
He said the government is ever ready to weed the agency of unscrupulous elements, even as he urged Lagosians to always abide by the law.
The Lagos State Traffic Laws, passed by the state House of Assembly in 2012, was designed to protect law abiding road users, while violators face the consequences of their actions. The sanctions range from between N5,000 to N50,000 fine, jail terms and forfeiture of vehicles.
But the Traffic Law 2018 as amended stipulated stiffer penalties for these offences. For instance, driving against traffic now attracts a fine of N200,000 from N50,000. Also, all the violations that had no monetary penalties now attract between N20,000 to N90,000 fine.
Offences like failure to use seat belt, unclosed doors or standing on the doorway while in motion, which were hitherto free, now attracts N20,000 fine each. Parking on the highway, obstruction of traffic, picking or dropping passengers on illegal bus-stop also now attract N50,000 fine. Reversing a vehicle on the highway, or driving on kerbs and parking on walkways now attract N50,000 fine. Driving on BRT designated lanes draws N70,000 fine, while dropping passengers on laybys is slammed with N90,000 fine. Perhaps the only fine that was retained in the new fine regime was demurage paid on detained vehicles, which still attracts N1000 fine per night.
A source in the Ministry of Transportation, who preferred anonymity said the review was to ensure that the fines were punitive enough for deterrence.
He said: “Giving offenders a N50,000 fine is like a slap on the wrist. But with N200,000 fine or risk of impounding and being shown on camera during mobile court trial, they will think twice. The essence is deterrence,” the official said.
LASTMA spokesman, Mahmud Hassan corroborated the claim, adding that “the law was expressly clear that we should impound a vehicle that drives against traffic, which is the most common traffic offence these days”.
He, however, said the agency’s mandate is to manage traffic in the state in a smooth and efficient manner.
One way traffic, like Hassan said, has become the single most prominent traffic offence in the state.
A motorist, Muyiwa Akolade, said LASTMA officials need to undergo capacity training for effective discharge of their mandate.
He said the manner the officials were implementing the law would suggest they were out to milk the people rather than manage traffic and ensure they deflood traffic on the state roads.
According to Akolade, Governor Sanwo-Olu’s Achilles heels might just be LASTMA. “The goodwill enjoyed by Sanwo-Olu in the first two weeks is being fast eroded by these officials,” he said.
Two culprits last week forfeited their vehicles to the state by the mobile court in Opebi, Ikeja, for one way driving.
A former Commissioner for Transportation in the state, Comrade Kayode Opeifa sided with the Deputy Governor that LASTMA is a traffic management and not a revenue generation agency.
He said all the fines were to deter offenders from running foul of the law and protect road users from reckless drivers.
Opeifa, however, bemoan a total breakdown of discipline in the rank and file of the agency, adding that government should continue to weed out errant officers who are out to extort innocent Nigerians, using the state roads.
The former commissioner added that LASTMA needs to show capacity more than ever before that it is capable to manage traffic situation in the state.
Opeifa, who noted that he managed the state’s transportation with just 2,400 LASTMA officers, said the agency which now has 6,700 officials have no excuse not to ensure a gridlock free state.
“With more men and resources at LASTMA’s disposal, Lagos should not be experiencing these excruciating traffic that we see everywhere in the state. What it means is that more commands have been created and more local governments can now be covered. More traffic dark spots can be effectively covered and we should witness more relief on the road.
He sided the governor that more is expected of LASTMA. He said LASTMA have always operated three shifts-morning, afternoon and off-days, with those on afternoon working till around 9pm. What the governor merely did was to extend the closing hour till 11pm.
He said LASTMA officials need to be retrained and their output boosted in order for them to contribute meaningfully to the administration’s vision to address transportation and traffic management effectively.
LASTMA’s General Manager Olawale Musa said LASTMA is determined to sanitise the roads, assuring that erring officials would be fished out and prosecuted.
