If LASG has not seen or has refused to look into the decrepit state of the agency saddled with traffic management, then the citizens are in Sector K, Saturn, while the government is in Lagos, Earth.

The orbital period of Saturn compared to Earth would clearly indicate that many things would pass by without being noticed.

And so it is with LASG and LASTMA.

The ostrich seems to have buried its head in the sand

Scream all you want, it can’t see you, it can’t hear you…

A change at the helms of affairs is typically greeted with positive expectations.

It behoves on the new head to then seize the moment and make VISIBLE impact.

As it is, the earnest expectations of Lagosians have been dashed.

Detrimental actions of LASTMA were not staunched, rather they seem to be getting worse.

Some people have called for genuine town-hall meetings by the governor, on matters of Lagos State.

Meetings where you get unfiltered referendum on matters that can bring the Greater Lagos vision to fruition.

If that is a hard ask, then maybe the Ministry Of Transportation need to call an emergency impact assessment meeting of citizens and the traffic management agencies (that seem to have been deliberately foisted on the people)

Ministry Of Youths had a meeting between Police and youths. MOT might as well have one soon, for citizens and LASTMA.

LAHA might as well take the outcome of such a meeting and change the traffic laws.

If this is not an unleashing, then what is?

Gone are the days of trembling, before a LASTMA officer will ask for 2,000 Naira bribe for trumped-up or orchestrated charges.

Nowadays, the average asking price is 200,000 Naira. Then the pepper and tomato haggling starts, but you are lucky if you end up paying anything south of 10,000 Naira.

So, maybe the LASTMA officers are also working with inflation’s metrics, as the cost of living now is way higher than 2014, so in 7 years, they kept upping the deck.

And as we say on the streets, it’s now a stash!

It’s no longer a collection, it’s plain stick-up.

The worst kind of robbery, the one where you use government’s uniform to rob people.

The same people that paid for the uniform.

No milk of kindness, no willingness to help, just fleecing the people.

The traffic they are to manage is hardly ever managed.

That agency has a lot of personnel, where you see other agencies lacking hands.

Even with their burgeoning staff, the traffic sprawls are all over Lagos State.

By reports, the illegal money collected by traffic management officers is at about 5 times of what comes into LASG coffers officially.

If LASTMA remits 700 Million Naira in fines, then you can be sure, about 3.5 Billion Naira goes into pockets.

Sleuthing is now a thing.

Immigrations head did it, Borno State’s governor did it.

So, maybe some people in LASG are ready, let’s go to town on the LASTMA ride. Maybe we would see a thing or two.

If the government wants to convince the people; there is no collusion, or subtle support given to this brigandage, then it is time to take clearly-visible actions

Let the ostrich raise its head…

Lanre Roland

www.environmentallagos.org