BRIGHT JACOB writes that unwholesome practices involving LASTMA officials further put their relationship with public on a sour note
“These LASTMA officials are wicked. They don’t have pity,” a passenger inside a commercial bus en route to Ikeja from Egbeda said.
“You are correct. If you fall into their trap, you are finished,” another passenger said with a note of despair as a smartly dressed officer of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority flagged the “danfo” bus they had boarded down.
Apparently, the driver of the vehicle and a passenger in the front seat were not wearing their seat belts and the official, who had walked briskly up to the vehicle, lectured them on the need to always wear seat belts. And before the official let the driver off, he ensured that seat belts were fastened.
“Maybe that particular official is tired of arresting motorists that was why he acted the way he did. Those people don’t allow their prey to go scot-free,” the driver quipped as he zoomed off.
Sadly, this incident is one of the many compelling instances that aptly describe how relationship between LASTMA officials and the motoring public has deteriorated, and which analysts say should necessitate those at the helm of affairs in the state to scurry back to the drawing board and review the some of the operations of the agency.
In Lagos State, the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, bustling with an estimated population of over 20 million inhabitants squeezing themselves for space in the cosmopolitan city, traffic was bound to be a big deal and prior to the setting up of LASTMA, the state had grappled, albeit unsuccessfully, with the menace.
And in addition to rapid urbanisation which translated to continuing growth in population that exerts so much pressure on the state’s overstretched infrastructure, especially as road transportation was concerned, it became necessary a traffic agency was established to manage the ever-expanding traffic gridlocks experienced on Lagos roads as well as curtail the blatant disregard for traffic laws, which had both become the reality of the state and spiraled out of country.
Thus, in order to deal with the situation and also prepare for all possible contingencies, former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, put on his thinking cap and established LASTMA in the year 2000, and from a modest personnel strength of about 500, the agency now boasts about 5,000 men and women on its payroll.
At its inception, there was an aura of integrity and respect surrounding LASTMA. Motorists in Lagos were in awe of them and for a while, it seems LASTMA officials were a break from bribe-taking policemen who were making life miserable for motorists, both commercial and private.
“Yes, it is true that LASTMA officials were dedicated when they came on board to manage the traffic in Lagos,” said Ndubuisi Etenwa who is currently working at one of the commercial banks in Lagos as a driver and who also operates a tricycle, popularly known as Keke Marwa, at the close of work just to create an additional stream of income.
“In those days, commercial vehicles used to be scared of giving LASTMA officials bribes. You dare not try it. The mention of LASTMA meant an unruly driver had to behave whenever he or she was behind the wheel.
“It is a different story now. Nowadays, you see LASTMA officials collecting bribes openly, especially at parks and garages, and you begin to wonder what has gone wrong,” Etenwa said.
“It is a different story now. Nowadays, you see LASTMA officials collecting bribes openly, especially at parks and garages, and you begin to wonder what has gone wrong”
Another commercial bus driver, who simply wanted to be identified as “Ariya” said, “Some LASTMA officials are very heartless. Can you believe that even on Sundays when it is safe to stop at some points on the roads, you will be surprised to see them in mufti, taking pictures of vehicles discreetly?
“And the following day, Monday, you will see them stopping those commercial vehicles they photographed the previous day and delaying passengers trying to get to work on time,” Ariya lamented.
A private car owner, Stanley Chigozie, who works at a brewery located in Ikeja said he had witnessed in the past how LASTMA officials assisted some motorists to change their flat tyres and render other assistance.
However, Chigozie noted that there were also some LASTMA officials who would deliberately stay hidden, waiting for motorists to commit traffic offences.
He said, “There was a day I wanted to drive over Dopemu bridge in Lagos. Because I was distracted, I did not notice a signpost that said the bridge closes to motorists at 3pm.
“Before I could drive to the other end of the bridge, my car was quickly surrounded by LASTMA officials. To cut a long story short, I paid through my nose for an avoidable offense.
“What baffles me is LASTMA officials who stay hidden and don’t flag vehicles down or discourage drivers from using such bridges; or, even show motorists the signpost restricting motorists trying to access the bridge after the deadline. I think their action smirks of unprofessionalism.”
Business is said to be booming for the men of LASTMA as they haul in motorists in droves to pay hefty fines for all manner of road infractions.
In one single case on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, the agency reportedly raked in N1.4 million from seven motorists who paid N200, 000 fines each.
The men were caught driving in wrong directions in various parts of Lagos. They were arraigned before a mobile court beside the agency’s head office at Oshodi and were found guilty.
The court, presided over by Magistrate T. O. Fashanu ordered that their cars be forfeited to the state government.
The motorists were, however, later asked to write an undertaking never to take one-way in their lives and were subsequently fined N200, 000 each before their cars were released to them.
One other motorist arraigned alongside the one-way takers was fined N30, 000 for ‘willful obstruction’.
He had told the court he came in from Ibadan and had a medical condition that warranted him parking by the side of the road before LASTMA officials arrested him. He paid an additional N10, 000 for the cost of towing his car to Oshodi.
There were dozens of other cases with the offenders asked to pay various sums of money as fines.
Many of the motorists spoken to by our reporter accused many of the LASTMA officials of dishonest conducts including luring motorists into one-way traps and soliciting bribes.
Those who play ball are allegedly left off the hook, while those who refuse are taken to court where they will have no way out other than paying any fine imposed by the mobile court.
One of the men who paid N200, 000 fines before he could repossess his car said he was arrested after he entered a street around Montgomery, Yaba, Lagos without realizing he was driving in the wrong direction.
The gentleman, Ariyo Alatise (Not real names) said, “The signpost indicating that the road was one-way had been covered. As an experienced driver you may sense that you are going in the wrong direction if no vehicle is following you and other vehicles are facing you. Sometimes, too, you can know when all the cars parked on a street are facing you and there is none facing where you are going. But none of this was present when I drove in. In fact, I saw many cars parked facing the same direction I was headed. I had not driven for more than a minute when LASTMA officials pounced on me and impounded my car.”
He said there were LASTMA officials at the junction leading to the street and they did nothing to hint him that he was entering the street from the wrong direction only for them to pounce on him as soon as he drove in.
He alleged that he saw commercial buses plying one-way, but were ignored by the LASTMA officials.
An investigation at the Oshodi, Lagos headquarters of the agency revealed brisk business akin to a very busy market.
The entire premises of the agency were swarming with men and women who were brought in for one offence or the other.
Some of the motorists spoken to also alleged that there were rackets and unwholesome practices among the LASTMA officials, especially those attached to the taskforce.
One commercial driver disclosed at Oshodi that there were some stickers on commercial buses that confer immunity against arrest on the vehicles carrying them.
According to him, commercial drivers pay up to N50, 000 monthly to a clique of LASTMA officials to be exempted from arrest for traffic violations.
“Once you pay the money, you are given a sticker which you place on your car. No LASTMA official will arrest you. They will just pretend as if they are not seeing you, but will arrest anyone who follows you to break the same traffic law” the driver said.
He said the stickers look ordinary to everyone else, but they have special meaning to the drivers and the officials.
He gave some of the stickers as ‘Omo Oga’, ‘Ifa Eko’, ‘DST’, ‘Sanje’, ‘AYT2’, ‘77x’, ‘Psalm 21 2023’, ‘Austin’, and ‘Kingsley’.
Our reporter started looking out for the sticker names mentioned and saw one on a commercial bus on his way back from the LASTMA head office at Oshodi.
The stickers, ‘Psalm 21 2023’ were placed at the front and the back of the bus.
Another motorist spoken to at the premises of the agency’s taskforce opposite Arena Shopping Mall, Oshodi, alleged that LASTMA officials take out apprehended motorists for bargaining that can either lead to the release of such motorists or their arraignment before a mobile court, which sits every Tuesday and Thursday.
In March, this year, the Lagos State Special Offences (Mobile) Court, sitting in Lagos, sentenced an arrested suspected fake LASTMA, officer, Omotutu Bamidele, to a two-year jail term for impersonating and extorting money from motorists across Lagos.
The convicted fake LASTMA Officer was arraigned by the agency at a Magistrate Court, at Bolade, Oshodi area of the state on Two-Count charges of “Did impersonate as a public officer by representing as staff of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (S.78 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015)” and “Did obtain by fraudulent trick (Sec. 323 of the Criminal Law, Lagos State)” before the court.
According to General Manager, LASTMA, Bolaji Oreagba, through Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department, LASTMA, Adebayo Taofiq, Magistrate Kehinde Ogundare, sentenced Bamidele to a two-year jail term without any option of fine after he pleaded ‘Guilty’ to the Two-count charged levied against him.
Magistrate Ogundare stressed that the convict would serve the jail term without any option of fine due to the gravity of the offences committed.
The Court Prosecutor, Olufemi Adekunle stated that both offences levied against the convict contravened the Criminal Law of Lagos State (2015).
The suspect, who was nabbed at Olu Holloway Road in the Alfred Rewane area of Ikoyi by men of the agency’s Monitoring/Surveillance team, led by Ashafa Moyosore, Zonal Head, confessed to having been impersonating with a reflective jacket a LASTMA officer and extorting money from motorists particularly private car owners/ drivers at highbrow areas across the state.
Bamidele, who confirmed to be living with his junior brother inside one of the Army Barracks in Lagos, confessed further to have operated around Ikoyi, Obalende, Apongbon Bridge, Iporin, Olowu areas apprehending both commercial and private cars for various traffic infractions, including driving against traffic (One-Way).
According to him, “Any motorists particularly private car owners I caught dropping someone at any undesignated bus stop paid between N15,000 and N20,000, while those caught for driving against traffic (One-way) paid a minimum of N35,000.”
However, a legal practitioner, Clement Iloh, who also spoke to The Point, said ignorance of the law is not an excuse.
He advised motorists to update themselves with the state’s traffic laws, since, according to him; laws can change or be amended.
Furthermore, Iloh said that the traffic agency should start retraining their officials to get the most out of them.
“I don’t hold brief for LASTMA, but motorists must get familiar with the state’s traffic laws. There are actions that are traffic offenses which some drivers may not be aware about.
“And until motorists realise this, they will continue to have regrettable encounters with LASTMA officials,” he said.
Last week in the Ago Palace Way area of Lagos State, there were fatalities after some LASTMA officials and escort policemen tried to apprehend, or better still contravene, a vehicle which had driven against traffic (one-way).
Eye witnesses said one of the policemen who entered the offending vehicle got into a scuffle with the driver of the vehicle who tried to escape, but the vehicle tragically rammed into a tricycle, killing the tricycle operator, a pregnant woman and injuring her two children.
The escort policeman who also sustained serious injuries was beaten to a pulp but was saved by a team of policemen before he could be lynched by an irate mob that hurled invectives at LASTMA and protested violently.
“Once you’re issued the referral notice, you appear before a magistrate. Thereafter, if the suspected offender is found guilty, it is the magistrate that pronounces a fine that is paid, not LASTMA”
The Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of LASTMA, Adebayo Taofiq, who spoke to The Point, said the escort policeman eventually passed away in the hospital on Friday.
Taofiq said that contrary to some news circulating, there was no LASTMA official in the vehicle when the accident occurred.
He also said the late policeman who was in the vehicle did not scuffle with the driver.
According to Taofiq, the driver tried to “escape” but rammed into the tricycle.
Asked what had changed in LASTMA since it was established and why Lagosians do not reckon with them anymore, he said, “Nothing has changed with the agency. It is the attitudinal problem on the part of recalcitrant motorists who violate traffic laws that is causing all the changes you are talking about.”
“Recalcitrant drivers are the ones having problems with LASTMA and we will not tolerate this because there is a law that guides how you operate on the road, how you park or even pick somebody up.
“For instance, whether you are a private or commercial vehicle driver, you should not pick anyone in a place that is not designated as a bus stop.
“It is those who got caught that usually go about saying that LASTMA is bad.”
Taofiq who said there are many LASTMA officials who had suffered physical abuse in the hands of some recalcitrant drivers and others who had received awards for their exemplary conduct also noted that the agency does not arrest motorists or impose a fine.
He explained that when a motorist commits a traffic offence, LASTMA officials would contravene and take the vehicle to their office where a referral notice would be handed to the offender.
“The referral notice is a paper that takes you to a Lagos State Mobile Court set up by the state government to oversee traffic violations and environmental nuisance across the state.
“Once you’re issued the referral notice, you appear before a magistrate. Thereafter, if the suspected offender is found guilty, it is the magistrate that pronounces a fine that is paid, not LASTMA,” Taofiq said.
On a court ruling that the agency lacks power to tow vehicles, the image-maker said, “The Lagos State Government has appealed that judgment.”
And concerning the allegations of corruption levelled against some of its officials, Taofiq said LASTMA has been carrying out a lot of sensitisation programmes, warning motorists to desist from giving bribes or inducing traffic officials with bribes.
Taofiq who agreed that there were indeed a few bad eggs in the agency, said, “At the level of LASTMA, we have a unit established by the General Manager, Bolaji Oreagba, called Monitoring and Surveillance Unit who go out everyday, not to monitor motorists but checkmating activities of our personnel on the road.
