Over 60,000 traffic offenders arrested in Lagos – FRSC

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), on Saturday, said it arrested over 60,000 traffic offenders on Lagos roads, between January and December, 2021.

Olusegun Ogungbemide, Sector Commander, FRSC, Lagos state, made the disclosure at an End-of-the-Year party organised by the Badagry Unit Command of the Corps in Badagry.

According to the commander, in 2021, the agency was arresting an average of 15,000 traffic offenders every quarter, which is every three months.

“When you multiple these together, it simply means that I arrested an average of 60,000 traffic offenders between January and December, 2021.

“Also, during the end of the year special patrols, which was between Dec.15, 2021 to Jan. 15, 2022, the command arrested an average of 6,000 traffic offenders,” he said.

Mr Ogungbemide said that the command recorded more that 100 deaths on Lagos roads in the year under review, explaining that in 2022 the command would emphasize more enforcement on commercial vehicles.

“For enforcement in 2022, we are going to emphasize more on commercial vehicles, because we had a reduction in the rate of crashes on Lagos roads, but more deaths.
“This means that more commercial vehicles were involved, so we are going to refocus our attention on commercial vehicles.

“So, this year, there will be more enforcement, more advocacy and more interface with other security agencies,” he said.

He urged motorists to always cooperate with security agencies and the traffic management teams on the roads, to ensure a reduction in road crashes on Lagos roads.

“Lagos has become so aggressive after the ‘EndSars’ and this is the major headache we now have.

“The motoring public are not cooperating with the security agencies and traffic management teams and this is a bad trend for us.

“So, I will only plead that irrespective of what they feel has gone wrong, we should bridge the gap.

“There should be trust between the society and the security agencies, to reduce the level of aggression.

“We should have a better understanding this year that the law enforcement agencies are put in place for our own safety.

“We should cooperate with them, even when there are infractions, we should appreciate the fact that there is no leader that will send his men to go and misbehave,” he said.

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Sulaiman Taiwo, the Unit Commander, FRSC Badagry command, said his command’s operational excellence was second to none in the entire sector in 2021.

According to Mr Taiwo, God had been so kind to the command that a knocked down staff, who was unconscious for eight hours in the emergency ambulance, had regained consciousness and quick recovery.

He said the command was able to refurbish three operational vehicles and construct a water reservoir stand.

“We also have a robust inter-agency collaboration, promotion of stakeholders’ cooperation, we painted the office building and provided a power generating set, television set and DSTV, in the main hall of the command.

“All these achievement would not have been possible without the continuous mentorship and direction I got from my sector commander.

“I want to also appreciate all the command stakeholders, friends, sister agencies in Badagry, for their immense and timely contributions to the success of the command,” he said.

Richard Sanni, the Assistant Comptroller, Badagry Correctional Centre, who was the special guest at the occasion, commended the command for its cooperation with sister agencies in Badagry.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the highlight of the occasion was the inauguration of the new water reservoir built by the sector commander. (NAN)