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Lagos Taskforce Impounded 5,520 Vehicles And Crushed 11,180 Okadas In 2021
Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit (Taskforce) impounded 5,520 vehicles and 11,300 Okadas in 2021.
The vehicles were impounded for various offences, including driving on BRT Corridor, One-Way, dangerous driving and traffic obstruction.
Of the seized 11,300 commercial motorcycles aka okadas, 11,180 of them were crushed by the Taskforce during the year under review.
It is also clamping down on illegal workshops in the nooks and crannies of the State that are obstructing traffic on inner roads.
The Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit (TASKFORCE) says that 5,520 vehicles and 11,300 commercial motorcycles popularly known as Okadas were impounded in the State last year for various offences.
The Chairman of the Agency, CSP Shola Jejeloye, disclosed this while reviewing the activities of the agency for the previous year at the Agency Headquarters, Safety Arena, Bolade Oshodi.
According to him, the vehicles were impounded for various offences, including driving on BRT Corridor, One-Way, dangerous driving and traffic obstruction. He also revealed that the drivers of the vehicles were charged to court in line with the severity of the crimes committed on the roads.
Informing that 11,180 of seized 11,300 Okadas were crushed during the year under review, Jejeloye said the Taskforce is going to make Lagos uninhabitable for recalcitrant Okada riders, who are hell-bent on frustrating the efforts of the government in sanitising its highways and environment.
In his words:
“These shanties were built haphazardly without any form of environmental provision for waste disposal or drainage channels. This is why most of these areas are flooded and overwhelmed whenever it rains. We will not condone it any longer”.
“Wetlands, which are very common attributes of a Coastal State like Lagos, if not properly managed could worsen the flooding usually experienced during the rainy season. We have to make sure they are not encroached upon by illegal occupants. That is the reason we partnered with other MDAs to reclaim wetlands like Odo-Iyalaro”
Illegal mechanic workshops located in almost every corner of the State were not left out, as CSP Jejeloye hinted that a team of officers is in place to carry out extensive surveillance of key areas where the workshops are located. This, according to him, will ensure they are dislodged while offending operators will also be charged to court for flouting the States Environmental Laws.
The Chairman said :
“We will clamp down on illegal workshops in the nooks and crannies of the State that are obstructing traffic on our inner roads, disposing of their waste indiscriminately and polluting the environment. We had dislodged them at Maryland, Apapa, Surulere, Lawanson and other areas of the State last year and we will do more this year”.
He hinted that the operation tagged “Kogberegbe”, which was launched last year, is still in force and that his team will make sure that Lagos achieves its zero tolerance for criminal elements, black spots, okada operation on restricted routes and other environmental law offenders until the State is no longer undermined by anyone.
CSP Jejeloye also restated the commitment of the Taskforce to partner the general public and other enforcement agencies for enhanced service delivery, saying “If you see something, say something. We can only achieve these goals through a collective and combined efforts of the public as well as other security agencies in order to achieve the desired goal”.
During the briefing, Jejeloye also announced that TASKFORCE recently carried out a series of raids on black spots, illegal okada parks and also cracked down on traffic offenders at Cele Bus Stop and Ogba, where 84 okada and 20 tricycles were impounded for flouting the State’s Traffic Law on restricted routes in the State.
He noted that the operations were carried out to clamp down on infractions of the Traffic and Environmental Laws of the State as well as curb criminal activities while entrenching sanity in the system.
