Extortion: Fashola Reads Riot Act To LASTMA Officials

Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola,yesterday warned personnel of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, (LASTMA) to desist from extorting money from motorists, saying any erring official found culpable of extortion will be prosecuted.

Fashola who spoke at the induction of the new Special Traffic Mayors and meeting with LASTMA personnel held at the LTV8 Blue Roof, Agidingbi, Ikeja, urged the officials to focus on the free flow of traffic in the state metropolis rather than arrest of erring motorists.

The governor emphatically urged LASTMA officers to allow traffic offenders to go scot free if their apprehending an offender will further cause traffic congestion.

While harping on the circulating video clip in the social media showing a junior LASTMA personnel caught by cameras demanding N8,000 bribe from a motorist for violating traffic law, Fashola assured that the erring official now at large will be prosecuted.

He said, ” If making arrest will create more traffic, let the offender go. If somebody is impeding the traffic, it is your job to let him go so that you can do your primary job. The longer motorists stay on traffic the more fuel they burn. Traffic offenders must not defeat the purpose for which you are on the road.”

Fashola urged the traffic management personnel to always report all the pot holes on the roads in the areas they are assigned to enable government rehabilitate them , saying the state Public
Works Corporation was established for this purpose.

He said, “Let us commend the citizen for exposing the fellow in the LASTMA who was demanding bribe. We will get him as soon as possible. I am sure he will have days in court. He is a bad egg that does not represent the good ones among us.”

He noted that the Lagos Traffic Law 2012 had been able to reduce accident rates in the state from 646 cases recorded to 111 monthly.

“The law has worked. Death from motorcycles was 15 monthly before but it has now dropped to 1 monthly. I am happy to inform you that from August 2013 to October 2013, no death was recorded. My first duty as a governor is to protect your lives and properties”.

Fashola revealed that plans are in the offing by his administration to convert LASTMA personnel who are contract staff to full public service staff so that they can enjoy other benefits that a permanent civil servant in the state enjoys.

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