The Lagos State government on Thursday said its set to enforce the new traffic laws for traffic offenders and bar commercial motorcycle from operating on 475 routes.Although the enforcement of the traffic law that has generated much controversy in the state.
At the signing of the Lagos State Road Traffic Bill into law on August 2 by the State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Ade Ipaye, had said the law would not be implemented immediately.
The government had said the enforcement of the law would wait for some time to allow time for public enlightenment to be carried out while copies are distributed to Lagosians to familiarize.
The government, which held a stakeholders’ meeting Thursday as part of the public enlightenment programme on the law, dismissed insinuations that the new law was a way to jail road users or to widen the state’s revenue base.
At the meeting with leaders of the Community Development Associations (CDAs) and Community Development Committees (CDCs), the government dismissed the insinuation as false and anti-progressive.
The Lagos State Deputy Governor, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, who represented Mr Fashola, said copies of the law had been distributed to various arms of government and government parastatals, among others.
The Commissioner of Justice also justified the traffic law, saying the revision was necessary to cope with the ever-increasing population of Lagos metropolis and suburbs, which currently stands at 20 million as against a population of 300,000 the state had in 1949 when the first version of the traffic law was enacted.
He said the new traffic law “is necessary taking cognizance of the emerging challenges that come with the megacity status of Lagos State. A law that was made for about 300,000 in 1949 in any way cannot take care of an astounding population of 20 million”.
Speaking at the meeting, Chairman of the House of Assembly Committee on Transportation, Bisi Yusuf, said the traffic law represented the views, which he said various interests and groups expressed at series of stakeholders’ meeting organized by the legislature before the law was enacted.
The lawmaker, who represented the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, said the law was not imposed on the people because various groups and interests in transport and other sectors were invited to make input into the process.
Written by Adewunmi Akinpelu
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