Lagos state Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has fired the Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Mr. Young Arabamen, over the worsening traffic gridlock in the state.
Retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, Mr. Christian Olakpe, has been appointed to replace him. Ambode says that Olakpe’s appointment was in strong response to the consistent complaints by members of the public on the situation of traffic on Lagos roads.
Both men had served as commissioner of police in the state.
Habib Aruna, Chief Press Secretary to the governor, confirmed this in a statement issued on Monday, saying the decision was for “improved performance and better relations with the public”.
“Governor Ambode, it would be recalled, had approved the appointment of a new general manager for the authority, but the decision to appoint a seasoned former AIG as the CEO of LASTMA was further said to have been necessitated owing to the fact that the impetus expected with the previous appointment was not fully actualised due to the docile nature of the headship of the authority.”
A graduate of Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos, Olakpe joined the police in 1982 and has been the commissioner of police of Lagos, Bayelsa and Plateau states.
He was also deputy commandant of the Police Academy, Kano, and commissioner of police of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit, Lagos. A member of the International Association of Bomb Technicians (IABT) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (ICAP), Olakpe rose to become Assistant Inspector-General of Police before his disengagement from the force in 2014.
