The accident, which occurred earlier today, claimed one life and left a total of five individuals affected.

LASTMA officials arrived at the scene and spearheaded the rescue operations. With the support of concerned bystanders, four victims were extricated from the wreckage, three of whom were rescued alive. Tragically, one individual, trapped inside the J5 Ford bus laden with pepper and other perishable goods, succumbed to injuries sustained in the crash.

Preliminary findings suggest that the J5 Ford bus experienced brake failure while traveling at high speed, resulting in a collision with the Mercedes truck.

Emergency response teams, including the Lasema Response Unit (LRU), the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the Nigerian Police Force, and LASAMBUS, collaborated with LASTMA to manage the situation. All survivors were swiftly transported to the General Hospital on Lagos Island for immediate medical attention.

In a coordinated effort to restore normalcy, LASTMA’s rescue team efficiently cleared the accident site, removing the vehicles and spilled perishable goods to ensure the free flow of traffic along the bridge.

A zebra crossing is a crosswalk marked by a series of broad white stripes over black to indicate a crossing point at which pedestrians have the right of way, and where motorists are expected to stop for pedestrians to cross.

several motorists across the state do not obey the zebra crossing sign with some of them feigning ignorance about what the sign stands for.

A commercial driver, who gave his name simply as Mustapha, said that “those signs are meant to beautify the roads.”

The Head, School Advocacy Programme, LASTMA, Mrs Fausat Aluko, said, “We have our men on the ground to arrest those who violate road signs, especially zebra crossing.

For zebra crossing, there is a fine in place. It is N20,000 if an offender is caught. Drivers who fail to stop for pedestrians to cross at zebra crossings and those who park on the signs during traffic will be made to pay a fine of N20,000 if caught.”

Speaking on motorists who feign ignorance about road signs, Aluko said one of the measures taken was to ensure that every motorist was introduced to the road signs and their meanings at the state’s drivers’ institute before they are issued a driver’s licence.

She added that the agency had embarked on a public enlightenment programme which “has started in schools across the state to get our children familiarised with road signs.”

“We visit different schools on Wednesday every week to ‘catch them young’ and inculcate the habit of respecting road signs in them from their tender age. We also believe that the children can correct their daddies or mummies or their school drivers when they see them violate road signs. We see them as our ambassadors to take the message to their families.

“We have established a club called ‘Safety Club’ in schools to enhance these enlightenment efforts,” she added.

Lagos State Government said it was deploying bodycams for use by officials of LASTMA for effective traffic management.

In May last year, the government also said it had deployed an additional 500 bodycams for more effective traffic management in the state.

In July last year, however, the agency said it was introducing the TMS handheld camera devices to enhance transparency in its operations.

The Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of LASTMA, Mr Taofiq Adebayo, said bodycams were no longer in use by the agency and had been replaced by the TMS handheld camera devices.

LASTMA no longer uses bodycam. What we are using now is the TMS camera. That is the traffic management solution camera devices,” Adebayo said.

Describing the TMS camera, the LASTMA spokesperson said, “This one looks like a phone, like a mobile phone. It’s handy. It’s just like your phone.

“If you have a vehicle that committed any traffic infractions, instead of having a kind of confrontation with such person, from distance, you just set your TMS device, like a phone, you set it, it will capture that vehicle from distance, it will capture the infraction the vehicle had committed, it will get the registration number, the time, the date, and the area, the location at which the traffic infractions was committed.

“Then it will send it into the backend of the state government. At that backend, the name of the owner, and the particulars of the owner of the vehicle will be pictured through the registration number of such vehicle.

“There will be a notification on his or her mobile phone that he or she has committed a traffic infraction, and even with that notification, there is a video with an arrow that would appear along with that notification. Once you press the centre of the arrow on it, it will show you a video recording of the traffic you had committed, the time you committed, the date, and the area, so that there won’t be any kind of disagreement that it was me or I was not the one.”

Adebayo added that, “the first batch (of the TMS cameras) has been deployed to every LASTMA officer. We’re expecting the second batch now very soon.”

This was disclosed in a statement made available by the Public Relations Officer, LASTMA, Adebayo Taofiq, on Sunday.

According to the statement, the Lagos State Civil Service Commission had approved every proposal the Personnel Management Board had made about the seven LASTMA officers who had been indicted during their meeting on Tuesday, August 19, 2023.

Taofiq said, “While five LASTMA officials indicted for corruption received a letter of termination of appointment’, remaining two  received a letter of ‘reprimand’ for absence from duty posts without leave.”

Taofiq quoted the agency’s acting General Manager, Bakare Oki, as saying that the disciplinary action that was taken, was according to the Lagos State Civil Service Rules and Regulations.

He added that the public’s sharing of experiences, both positive and negative, and the provision of relevant evidence regarding alleged misdemeanours would be necessary for the agency to improve.

He pleaded with Lagos drivers to always abide by the state traffic law to avoid breaking the law and facing the penalties that are stipulated in the legislation while assuring the public that these complaints would be looked into quickly and impartially.

Taofiq stated that the cases against the remaining 14 indicted LASTMA officials are awaiting further administrative review while admonishing the driving public to follow the Lagos State Transportation Sector Reform Law 2018.

“This is necessary for all of us to promote a Greater Lagos for the benefit of all and for the realisation of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s objectives in the First Pillar of the THEMES Plus Development Agenda (Traffic Management and Transportation).”

“We wish to add by informing well-meaning and concerned Lagos residents and the motoring public that we have various windows through which complaints can be channelled for prompt action – 08100565860, 08129928515, 08129928503, (08129928597 WhatsApp only) and Provost on 08129928490

“He assured the public that such complaints shall be investigated dispassionately with dispatch.

“While enjoining every motoring public to abide by the Lagos State Transportation Sector Reform Law 2018, Mr Bakare Oki disclosed that cases against the remaining 14 indicted LASTMA officials are undergoing additional administrative review.”

The LASTMA Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department, Adebayo Taofiq, revealed this in a statement posted on the agency’s X handle on Saturday.

Taofiq noted in the press statement that the lone accident happened at Barracks Bus Stop,Opposite Total Filling Station, ascending Anthony ‘Oke’ Bridge inward Gbagada.

The statement read, “Immediate investigation revealed that the driver of the containerised truck with registration number T 20345 LA lost control due to a brake failure and immediately the truck fell on it’s side few metres ascending Anthony ‘Oke’ Bridge inward Gbagada area of Lagos State.

“Immediately the accident happened, LASTMA personnel rushed to the scene and rescued the unconscious driver, while his motor boy was found dead.

“Police from Ilupeju Police Station provided security backup while the rescued driver was immediately rushed to Gbagada General Hospital by officials of the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit.”

The LASTMA Acting General Manager, Bakare Oki, who visited the accident scene, sympathised and sent his condolences to the families of the motor boy.

Oki, however, warned motoring public, particularly truck drivers, to always ensure their vehicles are in perfect conditions including the braking system before embarking on any journey within the state and the country at large.

The General Manager (GM) of LASTMA, Mr Bolaji Oreagba said that the clean-up exercise was conducted after the expiration of notices served on owners of the illegal shanties, kiosks, container shops, and abandoned trailers.

Oreagba disclosed that the illegal shanties around the nation’s port city does not only constitute health and safety risks but also served as a haven for criminals who used such locations as hideouts. He added that the exercise would last for seven days,

He said;  “All abandoned trailers from the port’s first gate down to the underneath of Lilypond Bridge constituting environmental nuisance were all towed by the team. The area is becoming a breeding ground for miscreants and hoodlums who on a daily basis extort money from motorists and impede the free flow of traffic.”

The agency’s General Manager, Bolaji Oreagba, in a statement by the agency’s Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department, Taofiq Adebayo, said the clean-up exercise on all environmental degradation began after the expiration of notices served on owners of illegal shanties, kiosks, containerised shops and abandoned trucks in Apapa and its environs.

Noting that the clean-up exercise would last for seven days, Oreagba said the intervention began over the weekend with the demolition of several illegal shanties, kiosks, and containerised shops, towing of abandoned trucks and dismantling of illegal garages.

He said, “All abandoned trucks from the Nigerian Port’s first gate down to the underneath of the Lilypond Bridge constituting environmental nuisance were all towed by the team. The area is becoming a breeding ground for miscreants who daily extort money from innocent motorists and impede the free flow of traffic.

Adebayo said the General Manager of Security for the NPA, Mohammed Khalil, hinted that the clean-up exercise on all environmental degradation in Apapa and its environs was long overdue.

He maintained that the NPA had been doing radio jingles and enlightenment campaigns to educate members of the public on the need for the clean-up exercise.

He added that officials of relevant agencies of government involved during the commencement of the clean-up exercise included policemen attached to the Lagos State Ports Command, OP MESA and Federal Road Safety Corps.

A statement by the spokesperson for LASTMA, Adebayo Taofiq, noted that the agency’s General Manager, Bolaji Oreagba, said this on Wednesday while deploying more officials to monitor traffic around filling stations, including other traffic-prone areas across the state.

Oreagba disclosed that the deployment became imperative following reports of long queues around filling stations caused by motorists parking indiscriminately and blocking roads while queuing up to buy fuel.

The PUNCH reports that less than 24 hours after President Bola Tinubu declared that “subsidy is gone,” the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, commonly known as petrol, skyrocketed to N600 per litre from N195/l in many parts of the country.

The development equally triggered a 100 per cent hike in transport fares, while long queues resurfaced at fuel stations across Lagos, Abuja, Ilorin, Benin, Asaba, Port Harcourt, Kano, Makurdi and other major cities and urban areas.

This is as many fuel outlets shut down their facilities and refused to dispense fuel to motorists, further creating scarcity and sparking desperation and panic buying at the fuel stations that were opened to customers.

Speaking further, Oreagba expressed displeasure at the “disorderly behaviour” of some drivers, who queued up haphazardly around filling stations, disrupting the free flow of traffic.

He urged petrol attendants and marketers to ensure that products were sold in an orderly manner so as not to infringe on the rights of other road users.

The LASTMA boss said, “Buying fuel is not an excuse to block and impede traffic flow across the state.

“In as much as we want our roads to be free, we do not want fuel queues to constitute a burden for other road users across the state.”

He reiterated that efficient traffic management had remained crucial in the attainment of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s seamless multi-modal transportation system in Lagos.

He equally advised motorists, including members of the public, against unsafe fuel storage inside vehicles, homes, markets and workplaces.

“Landlords and tenants should shun inappropriate storage of fuel at homes and public places. Filling stations must equally avoid dispensing fuel in polythene bags to avoid scuffle that can spark off a fire incident,” Oreagba advised.

He maintained that the public needed to be cautioned against the possibility of a fire incident or explosion if there was a source of ignition, such as a naked flame or an electrical spark, near the stored petrol.

The General Manager of LASTMA, Bolaji Oreagba, made this call on Wednesday during a courtesy visit of the Commission to the LASTMA Headquarters in Oshodi, Lagos State.

This was contained in a statement by LASTMA’s Director, Public Affairs Unit, Adebayo Taofiq, made available to The PUNCH on Thursday.

Oreagba said, “We are ready to cooperate with the Commission during investigation on any complaints from the public and information sharing where necessary”

We wish to add by informing well meaning and concern Lagos residents and motorists that we have various windows through which complaints can be channelled for prompt action.

“Such complaints sent via any of the above window shall be investigated dispassionately with despatch.”

During his presentation, the Commissioner, Public Complaints Commission Hon. Hafeez Adekunle Odunewu, said the Commission aims at correcting administrative anomalies in the discharge of public functions as they affect the citizens and residents between person(s) to person(s), especially on administrative procedure that can cause injustice within the administrative jurisdiction.

He commended the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority LASTMA for effectively discharging it’s statutory responsibilities.

The Executive Chairman, Hon. David Olusegun Odunmbaku expressed the compelling factors that necessitated the complementary services of the special traffic personnel on the roads within the LCDA and Lagos State at large.

He said: “Being a Smart City, transportation and traffic management take the front burner in the schema of the present administration through the T.H.E.M.E.S Agenda. This was necessitated by the teaming challenges facing the most populated city in Africa, and the economic capital of Nigeria.

“Thus, in a bid to further complement the efforts of the State Government on traffic management, we are inaugurating these mayors. They shall work hand-in-hand with LASTMA officials to ensure free flow of traffic on our roads, especially at Ojodu Berger, Coca-Cola, and other peculiar axes in our LCDA”.

Odunmbaku also hinted that the inauguration is in consonance with his administration’s commitment to the positive engagement of youths and capacity building through the HEYS agenda.

In the same vein, LASTMA Mayor Commander, Comdt. Othman Tajudeen decorated the new traffic Mayors, with the admonition to diligently and dutifully carry out their complementary responsibilities in order to make Lagos greater amongst its contemporaries.

Conclusively, the Vice-Chairman Hon. Bunmi Oluyadi who stood in for Odunmbaku seized the opportunity to reiterate the Lagos State’s resolve on the total ban of ‘Okada’ riders within the LCDA and requested for absolute compliance.

Also, in attendance at the ceremony were the Leader of the House, Hon. Opeyemi Apatira and other Legislators, Executive Committee members, Council-Manager Engr. Dele Abayomi, LASTMA Officials, and Management Staff

Public Affairs Unit
Ojodu LCDA
30th June, 2022