ZHUL-HAJJ 20, 1429 A.H.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 17, 2008.
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Lagos to clamp down on erring 'okada' riders.
The Lagos state government on Monday threatened to clamp down on commercial motorcycle (okada) operators who contravene the stipulated law guiding them.
Mr Kayode Opeifa, the Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Transportation, made the threat while answering questions from journalists on the transport sector at Alausa.
He said that 2,000 erring operators had been apprehended by the law enforcement agencies for operating during the hours considered illegal in some parts of the state.
`` There are over 800,000 motorcycles on Lagos roads alone, meaning that there will be over one million of them in the state.
``For only 2,000 to be apprehended, I think we have just begun and we will not stop the arrest, he said.
He said that it was an offence for the riders to come to the state secretariat in Alausa because of security reasons.
Opeifa who stated that a new policy on motorcycle operations would soon be released, said the law forbidding them to ply the highways was also still in force .
He said that operation was forbidden in Ikeja, Ikoyi and Victoria Island after 8p.m. and elsewhere in the state from 10p.m.
On the contentious ministry of transportation (MOT) test certificates for private vehicles, Opeifa said that the state had not stopped it since it was introduced in 1999.
The state government had only restructured its process in 2004 when it discovered that there were lapses, he said.
He said that the enforcement of MOT test was necessary because most traffic obstructions were caused by vehicles with mechanical and electrical faults.
Opeifa said that 56 per cent of vehicles impounded by the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) for obstruction, was due mainly to mechanical and electrical fault.
He implored all private vehicle owners to always patronise the 19 designated MOT centres in the state for their test, which according to him, is done annually.
``Motorists should pay N1,000 to the MOT designated account in Sterling Bank which is the state government's designated bank for it.
``The bank teller issued the payer by the bank would be presented at the test centres for the MOT, he said.
The SA, however, said that commercial and articulated vehicles were exempted from the MOT test but they must go for the road worthiness test.
