The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority said it impounded 9,370 vehicles from January 2024 to June 2024 for alleged traffic violations.
The General Manager, LASTMA, Mr. Olalekan Bakare-Ok, gave the figure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Lagos.
Bakare-Oki said that 3,034 private vehicles were impounded, adding that they comprised 1,849 cars, 549 buses and 636 Sports Utility Vehicles, among others.
According to him, 256 casualties were recorded during the period.
The LASTMA boss advised the public to obey all traffic rules and regulations and respect traffic managers.
He said, “In the last six months, it has been the good, bad and ugly, but so far, we have been able to surmount many challenges especially when it comes to training and retraining drive.
“We have been able to train 2,000 of our staff, both internally and externally.
“We started with external training. We had a collaboration with the training department of the Nigerian Police, Lagos Command, and we were able to train over 900.”
Bakare-Oki added that the authority collaborated with “our three consultants on leadership skills, emotional intelligence, customer care, and incidents management.
“We are doing all these so that we can improve on service delivery to Lagos residents,” noting that the LASTMA intends to “rebuild public confidence, especially in the area of public relations.”
The LASTMA boss said that the authority’s call centre would be launched soon while adding that it would be toll-free, accommodate English and Yoruba languages, and Pidgin, which would also enable the LASTMA to get feedback.
As regards enforcement, Bakare-Oki said the LASTMA started with the clearing of the Apapa Port, during which several operations were carried out, including removal of trucks, and tankers that parked indiscriminately on the Apapa route.
“Apart from the Apapa corridor and even Iyana-Ipaja, we were on the island. We entered Idumota, Apogbon, CMS and other areas, and we cleared the stretch of the Lekki-Ajah axis.
“ We were able to improve certain levels of sanity around the axis. Cumulatively, we have been able to touch the five divisions in Lagos in terms of enforcement, and this is continuous.
“We are bent on improving the travel time for Lagos residents, especially during the peak period,” he said.
Bakare-Oki said that LASTMA was putting everything in place to improve traffic management in the state, adding that it had deployed over 2,000 traffic equipment.
NAN