Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola on Sunday foreclosed the possibility that the new road traffic law, which banned operations of commercial motorcyclists (okada riders) from popular roads among other drastic measures, would be reviewed.
The governor expressed satisfaction with the enforcement of the law and said its health and safety objectives were being met.
Fashola, who spoke during the commemoration of his 2,000 days in office at Ikeja, Lagos added that many policies aimed at improving driving culture, safety and protecting lives on roads are contained in the law.
He said, “We are experiencing more voluntary compliance and we are seeing progress towards improved driving culture and our ultimate goal of safety of lives and property on our roads.
“Between July, before the law came into force, and September 2012, of the 13,322 people attending our Drivers’ Institute, 11,986 had good vision, while 1,346 representing about 10.1% had bad vision.
“They have been referred for corrective action such as glasses to improve their vision and return them back to the road, safer, for themselves and other road users.
“From the 25 General hospitals, the reports of accidents of okada dropped from 646 to 525 cases in September, a 18.73 per cent eduction while deaths recorded between the same period dropped from 14 to 8, a 42.86 per cent reduction.
“From the office of the Commissioner of Police, the reported incidents of crime generally perpetrated by okada, especially robberies, dropped 30 per cent in September and by 60 per cent as at the end of October, when compared to the month of July, before the law came into force.
“These for me are signs which suggest that the health and safety objectives of the law are being met. I do not believe that it is the desire of the people of Lagos to continue to tolerate a transport business model that is unarguably injurious to the society.”
The governor said his administration would continue to improve on transportation by providing more buses and building more road networks.
He said, “Because of the modest progresses in our public transportation, I remain convinced that the legacy of public transportation that you and the next generation of Lagosians deserve is one that puts us on the global map of City-States for the right reasons and not one that condemns us to a dependency on the signs of poverty that we import from Asia.
“It is a system of buses and rail transport supported by ferries that will solve our problems.”
Fashola also told Lagosians at the event that his administration was making progress in other areas to improve their welfare.
He said the Mile 12-Ikorodu Road expansion and other 185 inner roads had been financed and awarded while the construction of 584 housing estates in Agbowa and 1,404 others had commenced across the state.
“In the area of education, I am happy to report that our state is now in the top 10 of the 36 States that are in the forefront of public education revival, and we are the only state in the South West in the top 10 this year.
“During the last 100 days, we launched one of the projects that we designed to ensure that our women do not lose their lives while giving birth,” the governor said.
(Punch)
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Dis traffic law dat banned okada (Commercial motorcyclist) or motorcycl pls tell us d one ur gov banned
ReplyDeleteWhat is happening to the Contractor handling Bale Street in Orile-Iganmu. Pls let us know because the road is now unmotorable and unwalkeable. Pls save our soul.
ReplyDeleteCabs should be put in place to replace the bikes that have been sent off the road. The cabs should not just operate as drop. They should do pick and drop.
ReplyDelete