The Governor Of Lagos State has banned Skating on Lagos roads due to increase vehicle accidents.
“They
cannot skate on the highways. It is a violation of the traffic law
2010. I implore all parents to call their children and their wards to
order because any child found skating on the highway will be arrested
and will be brought to justice. It must stop today. Skating on the
highways has to stop now. The danger is too much and it is the
responsibility of the government to safe lives,”
On skating,
Fashola said he noticed that the youths had also taken to skating
because the road is safe, saying government was not going to discourage
them but that they should do that in designated places like recreation
centres, stadia and others.
On the position of the government
concerning road development in FESTAC Town, Fashola explained that the
state government was having an issue with the Federal government,
pointing out that the taxes and land
charges being collected by the FHA
were being sent to Abuja.
“I have said that the Federal Housing
Authority is an anathema to the current constitution. The Federal
Government does not own land, so, I don’t see how it can have a housing
authority. But it was created during the military and now that we are in
a civilian dispensation, as I made a case on Saturday when we were in
Sokoto, this is one of the laws that the National Assembly should simply
amend or repeal to bring them in conformity with the current
dispensation,” he said.
On LASTMA, the governor pointed out that
its primary responsibility was to keep the state traffic moving,
stressing that “this is the reason why the agency exists. Arresting
traffic offenders is secondary. If making an arrest will increase the
traffic, let the offenders go. I say this not because I don’t want law
breakers to be apprehended and brought to justice. But law breakers
cannot undermine our main objective.
“The longer people stay more
in traffic, the more money is wasted and fuel are burnt and when people
stay more in traffic, this leads to increase in the price of goods in
the state. But with a moving traffic, price of goods will be stable.”
Fashola
explained that the challenge of managing traffic in Lagos State
necessitated the need for the meeting with the Special Traffic Mayors,
while stressing the need to pay attention to road safety measures for
the betterment of all.
“Over the last few days, we have begun to
experience traffic gridlock within the state. There are couples of
factors that we all must be aware. We promised to address inner roads
and at the moment we have commenced work on 200 inner roads in the
state. It shouldn’t be surprising that the construction is causing
traffic in the state because these are areas where people are already
living especially on Joel Ogunnaike, Kodesho and others.
“The
access to those roads will definitely be impaired. That is part of the
problem. Also, we are getting closer to the Christmas and New Year. At
this time, there is heavy movement of people at the same time on the
road,” he explained.
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