The Lagos State Government on Wednesday handed over 10 brand new patrol vehicles and 26 motorbikes to the Traffic Enforcement Team to carry out enforcement operations.
The Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde disclosed this in a statement by the Public Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Transportation.
Oladeinde, at the handover ceremony held at the Ministry of Transportation, Alausa Ikeja, said that the gesture was in line with the executive order signed by Gov. Babajide Sanwo Olu on efficient traffic management in May 2019.
He promised that more equipment and resources would be deployed by the state government to enhance efficiency in traffic control in the metropolis.
Oladeinde said that the traffic enforcement team was made up of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Lagos State Neighborhood Corps (LNSC), Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) and Nigerian Police Force and OP MESA.
He said that the government adopted the combined team approach to tackle the hydra headed challenge of the gridlocks in the state.
The commissioner said that the approach was also to provide a holistic solution to the traffic situation in the transport sector.
According to him, the traffic management will not stop at enforcement but extend to other areas such as reconfiguration and rehabilitation of road infrastructure.
He said that the rehabilitation of road infrastructure included the on-going junction improvement at critical areas, so as to increase their capacity for vehicular movements.
Oladeinde lauded Sanwo-Olu for his consistent and unrelenting drive toward combating traffic congestion in the metropolis.
He assured that his ministry would work round the clock to achieve his vision.
The commissioner said that the vision for an efficient traffic management and transportation system that would meet the need of the teeming population must be achieved in record time.
Earlier, the Special Adviser to Gov. Sanwo-Olu on Transportation, Mr Oluwatoyin Fayinka expressed his gratitude to the governor and said that the equipment should be well utilised.
Fayinka said that capable and responsible officers had been selected from all the enforcement agencies to ensure traffic flows, making use of the equipment.
The special adviser appealed to traffic officers to desist from excuses in the course of discharging their duties.
He warned that the vehicles and the motorbikes should be used strictly for enforcement.
According to him, monitoring teams have been set by the state government to monitor their operational activities.
In his remarks, the General Manager of LASTMA , Mr Olajide Oduyoye urged the officials in the team to uphold the confidence reposed in them by the state government by handling the vehicles responsibly.
Oduyoye said that proper use of the equipment would attract more for their operations.
“We will do our utmost best in ensuring free flow of traffic in the state; we won’t return to the dredges of yesterday,” the LASTMA boss assured.
