Determined to prevent a repeat of the tanker explosion that took Lagos State by storm, Governor Akunwunmi Ambode has directed that all non road worthy vehicles be impounded henceforth.

Ambode said government would henceforth have zero tolerance for vehicles without road worthy certificates, calling for voluntary compliance to road worthiness for all vehicles plying the state roads.

He urged drivers and vehicle owners to as part of their civic responsibility, obtain the road worthiness certificate for their vehicles, saying no one should wait to be forced to pull any vehicle off the road as a result of non certification of the status of such vehicles.

Ambode who spoke at the third Lagos Traffic Radio Lecture Series was addressing stakeholders in the transportation sector which include owners, operators and enforcement agents on the theme; Lagos State Transportation infrastructural support systems: The Governor Akinwunmi Ambode strides.

According to him, ss part of the war against the removal of unhealthy roads from the roads, all trucks, petroleum tankers and container trailers have been given thirty days to obtain their road worthiness certificates or risk being forced off the roads.

He said government in partnership with the private sector have invested in computerised vehicle inspection, to reduce human errors, and urged all truck owners and operators to visit any of the ten Lagos Computerised Vehicle Inspection Service centres to test their vehicles.

The governor, who spoke through Commissioner for Information and Strategy Kehinde Bamigbetan said the ten new centres would be established before the year end to ensure at least one such centres exists in each of the twenty local governments.

Also speaking, Commissioner for Transportation, Ladipo Lawanson listed the heavy investments on public road system with the delivery of modern bus terminals as part of the creative strides of the Ambode government in deepening infrastructural support for public transportation.

According to Lawanson, besides the Ikeja Bus Terminal, opened earlier in the year, ten new terminals were nearing completion in the state, saying this was in addition to about one hundred bus shelters being constructed to make the state’s public transportation more people-friendly.

He said the management of public transportation became all the more paramount because of the over concentration of attention on road transportation in the state, saying it was unacceptable that more than fifty percent of the twenty million trips being made per day in the state were done by road, was why government was not only managing investment in road transportation, but developing other modes of transportation.

Lawanson listed other investments on the road to include the BRT median lane on the Abule-Egba-Oshodi corridor, the world class Oshodi multi terminal interchange, the International Airport road upgrade and the computerised test centres.

According to him, in governments effort to ensure all parts of the state enjoys maximum development, it had awarded contract for the construction of one hundred and eighteen inner city roads, aimed at relieving traffic congestion experienced by travellers.

He said in furtherance of its bus reform initiative, government would soon unveil a new air-conditioned bus shuttles to replace the rickety yellow buses in the state, saying efforts were on to seek international cooperation in the development of the water sector, for the purpose of ensuring that the state maximise its coastal belt.

Lawanson said through the activation of some of these initiative, Governor Ambode had been able to achieve a marginal reduction in travel time from one hundred and twenty to one hundred minutes travel time.

He spoke through Director, Vehicle Inspection Service in the Ministry, Afis Toriola saying government was coming up with infrastructure that could absorb and support the twenty million trips which originated in the state per day, and that destination would be achieved within the next three years.

According to General Manager of Lagos Traffic Radio, Layinka Adagun, the lecture series, basically served as a platform to discuss and proffer solution to transportation challenges which was borne out of the need for regular interface of ideas, best practices and latest tools to better manage the ever increasing vehicular traffic challenges in the state.

Adagun said the annual lecture series was instituted to provide a platform for stakeholders to come together and proffer solutions to traffic situations and the State transport system in general, saying the platform served as a catalyst for cross-fertilisation of ideas on the way to advance the traffic management in the state and to help project the efforts of the traffic management authorities at tackling the menace of traffic gridlocks.

He said the lecture was part of efforts to support the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s Administration in transportation sector, to give intellectual depth to the transport initiative, saying the idea was conceived in twenty-sixteen and since then, the event had recorded tremendous success in educating relevant stakeholders in the transport sector and in advising the state government.

Chief Executive Officer Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Chris Olakpe attributed the cause of traffic gridlock in Lagos to driver’s impatience, insensitivity and impunity on the roads.

Olakpe, a Assistant Inspector-General of Police, also attributed the perennial gridlock along the Oshodi/Apapa expressway to lack of adequate packing bay for trucks as well as bad roads, blaming failure of terminal operators to provide parking bays for trucks that were transacting business in their terminals, as the cause of the gridlock.

He lamented that the resultant effect of the wrong parking was the spillage of traffic congestion witnessed around Lagos.

The highlight of the event was the presentation of prize to dedicated officers of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency, LASTMA, and the Federal Roads Safety Corps, FRSC, who had excelled in their traffic monitoring assignment during the year.

Among those awarded for their distinguished service were Junaid Ajadi, who emerged as LASTMA Man of the Year. Ajadi, unanimously emerged winner of the category because he lost his right arm in the course of duty.

Other winners were; Biodun Akanni, who won the Dedicated LASTMA Monitor of the Year, Olabisi Sonusi, who won the FRSC Officer of the Year and Rita Omobude, who emerged the Peoples LASTMA Officer of the Year.