By Henry Ojelu
LAGOS — OFFICIALS of Lagos State Transport Management Authority, LASTMA, have lamented their inability to effectively manage traffic in the city due to the terrible state of the roads.
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Our correspondent, who monitored some areas in the state, reports that several LASTMA officials were sighted discussing and idling away while motorists and other road users groan in long traffic jam.
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The areas monitored includes Oshodi, Ikeja, Victoria Island, Isolo, Mile 2 and Ketu.
At Oshodi, about six LASTMA officials were sighted at a point just discussing. Despite the very long queue, the men appeared unperturbed. Before leaving the area, our reporter sighted the officials trying to arrest motorists who attempted to use the wrong lane.
At Ketu the situation was the same. As early as 8am, about three officials posted to the bus stop were sighted standing on the walkway while commercial buses dropped and picked passengers. The traffic stretched as far back as Mile 12.The road strewn with potholes.
At Allen roundabout in Ikeja, several LASTMA officials working along with traffic police officers were sighted in the early hours of the morning trying to control the heavy traffic at the bus stop. A mild drama played out at the roundabout when traffic police officers arrested a driver who beat the traffic light.
Efforts by the police officers to make the driver pull over were unsuccessful as the driver insisted he did not beat the traffic light. The situation worsened the traffic jam at the junction as other cars behind the vehicle could not make their way through.
At Isolo, a LASTMA official and three traffic policemen were sighted at Oke-Afa junction at about 11am chatting away under a traffic control shade.
The LASTMA officials chased our reporter with a commercial motorcycle after observing that his picture had been taken while he was gleefully chatting under the traffic shade instead of assisting motorist navigate the bad road.
After catching up with our reporter, he insisted that the picture should be deleted.
Upon being assured that no bad intention was intended with the picture, the official began to narrate his frustration in controlling traffic in the area.
“Oga this work is frustrating. All the roads are bad. What can we do? All the motorists are just behaving the way they like. We can’t arrest them. I have been here since morning. You can see for yourself how the pothole there is making life a hell for everyone. Oga there is nothing we can do if the roads are bad. The bus drivers take one-way but we cannot arrest them because of the ban on enforcement,” he said.
Our reporter, however, observed that the situation is not the same in all the areas monitored. At Ikeja Along and Ajao road, some LASTMA officials were seen trying to help motorists maneuver their way.
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Reacting to the seemingly helplessness of officials of the state traffic management authority, Public Relations Officer of the Agency, Mr. Hassan Mahmud admitted that there are challenges in controlling traffic due to the state of the roads.
He said that his officers are working tirelessly with other traffic control unit of law enforcement agencies to tackle the challenge.
Mahmud said a special task force of his agency has been working round the clock to ensure that road users get to their destinations despite the obvious problem.
Speaking specifically to the observation that his officers appear jobless because of the bad road, Mahmud said: “Our monitoring teams go around monitoring our men. If they are in the traffic shelter, they are also doing their job. We have a team that leaves the headquarters everyday with the support of the police to monitor our officer and arrest traffic offenders.”
On the issue of lack of enforcement, the agency’s spokesperson said: “It is not possible to arrest all traffic law violators in the state. We have never stopped enforcement. Traffic law enforcement coupled with control and management is going on around the state. We have not spared any inch of the statutes in carrying out our responsibility to motorists and members of the public. In the last few days, we have apprehended many vehicles. As I speak to you now, many motorists are due to appear in court due to traffic law violation. At Apapa, ten trailers were impounded in the last twenty four hours for obstructing free flow of traffic.”
He assured Lagosians that the traffic situation will go away in within the next two weeks.
“I want to assure motorists and other road users that in the next one week, some of these things will totally disappear. This is because the ministries and agencies in charge of the repairs are on top of the situation. We should appreciate that in Lagos State, we have about 10,000 roads and climate change which has caused long rain duration is also a challenge. As the rains aregradually subsiding, we will start to get relief,” he said.
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