8th February, 2022
The Lagos State Government has lifted the suspension earlier placed on the Removal of Abandoned Vehicles Committee (RAVC) ad-hoc operation in the State.
This was disclosed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Oluwatoyin Fayinka.
He revealed that the decision was reached after thorough appraisal and review of the operational guidelines of the team in accordance with the Law of the State as captured in the Traffic Sector Reform Law (TSRL) 2018.
The Special Adviser maintained that the RAVC Committee would be back better and stronger having gone through professional trainings for the discharge of their duties on removal of stationary and abandoned vehicles which hitherto posed as environmental nuisances, security and traffic impediments.
For the avoidance of doubt on the responsibility of the RAVC team, Fayinka stated that the creation of the Committee was mainly for the removal of Stationary and abandoned vehicles parked indiscriminately on highways and inner roads across Lagos State to reduce traffic for the motoring public.
The Special Adviser also stated that thousands of abandoned vehicles are parked daily indiscriminately on highways and inner roads across Lagos State, contributing to the daily traffic gridlocks.
He noted that some artisans have turned the road to their workshop, repairing vehicles on the road, loading and unloading on the road without due consideration for other road users.
Fayinka, while acknowledging several abandoned vehicle removal requests received from members of the public especially estates, urged motorists to keep their vehicles off the road to avoid encounter with RAVC, adding that companies with fleet of vehicles should maintain parking garages for them saying, ‘the road is not anyone’s parking lot’
Assuring that the Committee would adhere to its statutory responsibility, Fayinka advised the public to forward requests for the removal of all sort of abandoned or stationary vehicles in their respective areas to his Office, Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Ministry of Transportation, the Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja.
It would be recalled that the Removal of Abandoned Vehicles Committee, (RAVC) was placed on suspension on the 27th September, 2021 in view of several complaints by members of the public on the activities of some of the Units which was causing embarrassment to the State Government.