Lagos Reads Riot Act To Auto, Spare Parts Dealers

The Lagos State Government has read the riot act to auto and spare parts dealers that operate in illegal places in Lagos and vowed to tow any vehicle found at illegal places in the state.

Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa read the riot act at the Vehicle and Auto Spare Parts Dealers Stakeholders’ meeting, organised by the Lagos State Motor Vehicle Administration Agency, MVAA on Wednesday at the Lagos State Educational Resource Centre, Ojodu, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.

Opeifa, whose speech was read by the Permanent Secretary, MVAA, Mr. Akin Hanson said government had put in its best to ensure that auto dealers in the state operated in a better environment but lamented that the laws of the state were not being complied with.

“In spite of these user-friendly, easily accessible registration platforms, compliance with the law have been very low. Rather than operating from the envisaged environment-friendly auto marts and decent premises, auto dealers have turned sidewalks, setbacks, eateries, fuel stations and inner city roads into display centres.

“For example, the whole stretch of the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway is littered with all manners of used and disused vehicles clogging the sidewalks and impeding vehicular and pedestrian traffic. This is totally unacceptable,” he lamented.

The commissioner stated that government had in the past adopted a humane approach in enforcing compliance and imposing sanctions on illegal auto dealers while the MVAA had organised periodic stakeholders meetings and awareness campaigns on the legislation and the intention of government.

He said the objective of government was to promote and encourage voluntary compliance, but noted that it had become increasingly obvious that this ‘human face’ element in the enforcement approach had been taken for granted by the illegal operators.

“Let me say that government remains unshakable in its resolve to rid the sidewalks, setbacks and other unauthorised places of displayed vehicles which constitute a serious threat to public safety.

“Such wrongly displayed vehicles may henceforth be regarded as abandoned and disused vehicles which the newly constituted Abandoned and Disused Vehicles Committee, LASTMA and other relevant law enforcement agencies have been mandated to remove. The vehicles will be towed to LASTMA’s enforcement yard at the owners’ expense,” he warned.

The commissioner added that government was worried by the uncooperative attitude of some auto spare parts dealers towards compliance with the law, saying that auto spare parts dealers constituted a critical component of the vehicle usage and repair chain, stressing that their operations had significant security and safety implications.

Permanent Secretary, MVAA, Mr. Hanson said the stakeholders’ forum was designed to enable all stakeholders rub minds on how best to achieve voluntary compliance; map out strategies to further discourage unregistered auto and auto spare parts dealers and appreciate the features and benefits of two MVAA products.

The new products are the Temporary Vehicle Tag, TVT and the Automotive Dismantling and Recycling, ADR Permit.

Hanson, whose speech was read by the Director, Finance and Administration in the agency, Olubukunola Omolaja said the two products would help reduce vehicle theft and other vehicle-related crimes, curb accidents caused by the recklessness of drivers delivering new vehicles and enable security agencies to track the sources of auto spare parts.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga