Apparently worried by the return of traffic gridlocks in most parts of the state, governor Akinwunmi Ambode has ordered the sack of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) officers found culpable at their designated posts. The Guardian learnt at the weekend that Ambode gave the directive following public complaints that LASTMA officials were becoming lax in traffic management.
The officers, it was gathered had practically gone on holiday in protest of their dissatisfaction with government’s plan to enforce traffic rules without impounding vehicles or arrest offenders, which the officers said had only made their job almost impossible.
It would be recalled that Ambode at the beginning of his administration told LASTMA to quit the practice of impounding vehicles, but in its place, seek other means of apprehending offenders to make life easier, simpler and happier for the residents.
The governor, besides ordering the release of over 400 impounded vehicles in LASTMA custody without bail condition, also fired its head, Babatunde Edu, and appointed Braimah to implement the new regime. But since then, traffic gridlock had returned to Lagos metropolis because “the enforcement morale had gone low”, a top officer said at the weekend. More