- LASTMA, LAGOS TRAFFIC AS CASE STUDY
When Nigeria works the way we desire, are we sure we will be able to cope, will you be able to live in it??
Let me cite a case study
During the week I had joined a minibus from Ikeja to Ojuelegba. By the time we were close to Agip, a LASTMA official approached the bus driver within the traffic congestion that was building up and told him pointedly ‘if I want to hold you now, what can you do?’. I was sitting directly behind the driver so I eyewitnessed everything that happened.
With the confidence that the LASTMA official approached, I knew this driver had definitely run foul of the law. I knew it wasn’t one of the unsavoury experiences Lagosians have had over LASTMA.
There was no point for the driver to argue other than to appeal to the LASTMA man. Shockingly, the man feigned innocence claiming he hasn’t done anything wrong that morning. Since he showed no remorse, the LASTMA official flipped out his phone and showed a video evidence of how the bus driver was on the express lane dropping off passengers and speeding away upon sighting LASTMA officials some evenings ago. Only fools doubt proofs, the LASTMA official asked the driver to pull over the minibus.
General Manager,
Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA)
In our mannerism of thinking law enforcement agents are wicked, corrupt, and inhuman, some of my fellow passengers started to complain, ‘Eh, they have come again. In this economy. Wicked man. Can’t you see that with his condition he is even hustling. It is early morning, let us go to our work jare’ among other complaints. The ensuing scenario attracted other LASTMA officials who asked us to disembark and promised to put us in other vehicles without paying another fare to Costain. The LASTMA officials indeed lived up to their promise as they put 1 passenger each in different oncoming buses. I didn’t witness how the case was eventually concluded but I am sure that the driver will get a penalty, what exactly I do not know.
Some officials of LASTMA can be cantankerous, I can’t dispute that. I, alongside other persons, have had to shout down one who didn’t have a cogent reason for holding a bus. But we cannot only be faultfinding as Nigerians.
When our law enforcement agents do right, we must praise them and bring publicity to their activities. In this particular instance, LASTMA did well. So I give kudos to that particular LASTMA official who had his concrete evidence to act. I thank the other LASTMA officials for doing a yeoman’s job. I believe if Lagos State Government can furnish each LASTMA official with body cameras, they could perform much better rather than engage in hot chase or use those horrible-looking, pitchfork-like iron tools.
But then, Nigerians are we ready for a Nigeria that works? I think the prevailing ‘anyhowness’ in our daily life is ingrained in our moral and social fabric. In the societies that we love to cite, a ticket would have been waiting at home for the driver for that infraction but we want to wave it away here?
This case is a traffic offence, which is quite one of the most common in every society. See how it was handled. Ain’t we handling other crimes much the same way under the guise of ‘is it not that small thing. Leave him alone now. Man know man. When Mr So and so did it, wasn’t he allowed to go’ et al. When Nigeria works the way we desire, are we sure we will be able to cope, will you be able to live in it?