Stop The Attacks On LASTMA Officials
It is high time something is done about the incessant attacks on officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, by military and paramility personnel as well as members of the public. The attacks which are often brutal have led to a number of the officials losing their lives or being incapacitated for life.
This should not be the lot of these officials who are doing a yeoman’s job trying to bring sanity to the chaotic, sometime exasperating traffic situation in Lagos State. Motorists who daily ply the ever-busy expressways and township roads know when LASTMA officials are on the road or not judging by the flow of traffic on the roads.
LASTMA was set up principally to control traffic on Lagos roads and to a great extent, we must say that LASTMA has succeeded in this regard. The outfit has been able to restore sanity on Lagos roads, whichever way we look at it. It is unthinkable to imagine what the traffic situation in the state will look like if the officials were withdrawn from the roads. Also,the fear of LASTMA is the beginning of wisdom for disobedient and unruly drivers on Lagos roads.LASTMA officials are rendering essential services to the community and should not be treated like animals.
A few examples of the brutality meted out to LASTMA officials while performing their official duties will suffice here. On 11 January, a LASTMA official, Ismaila Olalekan, was at Onipanu, Somolu Local Government Area of the state, controlling traffic when a policeman accosted him for arresting a vehicle which used the BRT lane. The policeman dragged the official down from the vehicle whose driver contravened the law and in the ensuing melee stabbed the traffic official on the rib.
The policeman was initially arrested and interrogated but from what we learnt, the policeman has been released and is walking the streets a free man. Meanwhile, the LASTMA official is still at home nursing the injury he sustained during the fracas.
Earlier on 31 December, 2010, another LASTMA official, Olalekan Odusanya, who arrested a commercial motorcyclist also known as Okada rider at Ketu for illegally plying the BRT lane nearly had his eyes plucked out by a policeman who took sides with the Okada man. The policeman, it was learnt, used his key to poke at the left eyes of Odusanya. The attack has rendered him partially blind as he can no longer see with the left eye. He now wears dark goggles to cover up the thick white substance coming out of his left eye. His attempt to seek remedy in the hospital was compounded by the off and on strike by medical personnel in the state.
A female LASTMA officer, Mrs.O.O. Adegeye narrowly escaped death on 4 February, 2011 when a Mercedes Benz ML350 she and her team arrested for obstructing traffic at Oju Olobun Street, Victoria Island, deliberately knocked her down on the pedestrian walkway at Saka Jojo Street, Victoria Island when the driver of the car attempted to escape.
These are just a few of the instances of the brutal treatments meted out to LASTMA officials which we think are uncalled for.
Agreed that some of the traffic officials are overzealous in the performance of their duties but violence and brutality against them by policemen, soldiers, airforcemen and members of the public are not the solution to curbing these excesses.
It is our opinion that rather than brutalising these men, their excesses should be reported to the authorities who should act decisively by bringing the erring officials to book.
A register of complaints should be opened by the LASTMA authorities, with telephone numbers of officers motorists should call when they have any grievance against the traffic officials.
These telephone numbers and officers should be well publicised for everybody to see. The officials should also be reorientated on good conduct while performing their duties. They should show respect to road users and refuse to be provoked by recalcitrant drivers.
Road users too should obey traffic rules and show respect to LASTMA officials.
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