The Lagos State Government has said that officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) will start using smart body cameras within the next few weeks to monitor traffic violations.

This is coming after a viral video that has been in circulation, showed a man driving his Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), driving against traffic along International Airport Road, hit a policeman with the car and he fell over the bridge when attempts were made to apprehend him.

This was disclosed by the General Manager of the LASTMA, Olajide Oduyoye, while answering questions on a Channels Television Programme monitored by Nairametrics, Sunrise Daily, on Friday, February 26, 2021.

The LASTMA general manager who pointed out that technology is the way to go, said that Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is on top of that and in 2020, approved the deployment of technology to improve our communication for the agency.

What the LASTMA General Manager is saying

Oduyoye, while answering questions during the interview said, ‘’I’m glad that you said that and of course technology is the way to go, our Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu is very much on top of that. He approved the deployment of technology for us to improve our communication last year 2020.

This year, we are definitely hoping in the next few weeks to start what you would say non-approachable offence dealings. That means we are going to be having body cameras on officers to capture incidences because things happen so fast and you don’t really have time to say okay let me get my camera and everything, but if you have your body camera on that is recording, then you can capture all sorts of different things that you can use against typical offenders.’’

While lamenting that chronic traffic violators do often remove traffic signs to deliberately disobey road laws, the LASTMA boss warned road users to obey traffic laws and not attempt to flee when caught.

What this means

• The members of the general public have often called to question, the mode of operation of LASTMA, with calls for reforms which includes the deployment of technology in their operations.
• This has often led to conflict between the officials of the agency and motorists some of who deny allegations against them and accuse LASTMA officials of extortion and being overzealous.
• The LASTMA officials, who sometimes are at the receiving end, have had to deal with attacks on them by traffic violators, in the course of discharging their duties.
• The deployment of technology especially the smart body cameras will go a long way to drastically reduce these conflicts and make the operations of LASTMA more credible.

The average fare paid by commuters for journey by motorcycle per drop decreased by 11.60% month-on-month and increased by 95.22% year-on-year to N259.33 in January 2021 from N293.36 in December 2020, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report for the month of January 2021.

According to the report, commuters in  Taraba (N400.80), Yobe (N400.15) and Rivers (N400.00) paid the highest journey fare by motorcycle per drop while commuters in Adamawa (N84.22), Katsina (N134.90) and Kebbi (N152.05) paid the lowest journey fare by motorcycle per drop.

Other key highlights

• The average fare paid by commuters for bus journey intercity decreased by 0.25% month-on-month and increased by 39.55% year-on-year to N2,346.41 in January 2021 from N2,352.19 in December 2020.
• Commuters in Abuja FCT (N4,482.24), Lagos (N3,300.23) and Sokoto (N3,300.00) paid the highest bus journey fare intercity while commuters in Bayelsa (N1,600.45), Bauchi (N1,640.20) and Enugu (N1,687.45) paid the lowest bus journey fare within city.
• The average fare paid by commuters for bus journey within the city decreased by 0.66% month-on-month and increased by 74.75% year-on-year to N352.15 in January 2021 from N354.49 in December 2020.
• Commuters in Zamfara (N600.00), Bauchi (N522.75) and Ekiti (N458.77) paid the highest bus journey fare within city while commuters in Oyo (N189.46), Abia (N205.22) and Borno (N240.79) paid the lowest bus journey fare within city.
• The average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes single journey increased by 0.02% month-on-month and by 18.27% year-on-year to N36,463.65 in January 2021 from N36,454.59 in December 2020.
• Passengers in Anambra (N38,600.00), Cross River/Jigawa/Lagos (N38,500.00), Bauchi (N38,400.00) paid the highest airfare while States with lowest airfare were Akwa Ibom (N32,450.00), Sokoto (N33,700.00), and Gombe (N35,000.00).
• The average fare paid by passengers for water way passenger transport increased by 3.68% month-on-month and by 38.58% year-on-year to N786.19 in January 2021 from N758.27 in December 2020.
• Passengers in Rivers (N2,280.00), Delta (N2,250.45) and Bayelsa (N2,200.10) paid the highest fare by water while states with lowest fare by waterway passenger transport were Borno (N245.10), Gombe (N290.77) and Kebbi (N340.00).

Why this matters

Transportation cost takes a huge portion of budget for most lower/middle-class Nigerians and as well takes not less than 20% of their take-home pay packages.

The drop in fares paid by the commuters on motorcycle per drop (Okada) is a welcome development.

Transport by motorcycle (Okada) has been popularly adopted in most cities by businessmen, government workers, and students to overcome traffic congestion, and for the advantage that it can navigate roads that are inaccessible to automobiles and buses, particularly in villages and urban slums.