House summons LASTMA boss, others over road disasters

LAGOS State House of Assembly on Monday summoned key state officials to explain one-too-many cases of road accidents in the state. The House, on resumption from long recess, expressed concern that many lives were being lost on Lagos roads than had been seen in time past.

Among the officials invited to explain the development are the General Manager of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA); his counterpart in the Safety Commission and Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Transport.

Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, said the summon was necessary, especially in the light of the unfortunate fatal accident in Ojuelegba that killed three people a fortnight ago. Obasa observed that he now gets message alerts from the State Fire Service on daily basis, informing of frequent fire outbreaks, fatal road crashes and incidences of domestic accidents involving young Lagosians. “This is really disturbing and more appalling when we have no respite for our people.”

The Safety Commission and others need to tell us what is going on and what they are doing. I don’t think we’ve ever had it so alarming,” Obasa said. The officials are expected to appear on the floor of the House next week.

Member of the House representing Eti-Osa I Constituency, Gbolahan Yishawu, had earlier moved that the state commence an automation system to monitor traffic in the state beginning from 2016 for proper implementation of the traffic laws.

Yishawu argued that the manual enforcement of Road Traffic Law 2012 had not achieved its aims.