By Olawale Abdul-Fatah
Lagos State Government has concluded plans to auction 108 vehicles that were either impounded, forfeited or abandoned by motorists in the state.
The 108 vehicles to be auctioned by the government include 86 court forfeited and 22 abandoned vehicles.
According to the State Government, the 108 vehicles were impounded by the enforcement team of the Agency in different parts of the State for driving against traffic (one-way) and committing other sundry traffic offences.
Chairman, Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences (enforcement) Unit (Taskforce), CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, who confirmed the planned auctioning, stressed that the agency was granted permission by the court to perform the act.
Egbeyemi, in a statement by the agency’s Public Affairs Officer, Taofiq Adebayo, also stated that the public auction was scheduled to hold on Tuesday and Wednesday, 3rd and 4th of December, 2019 at the Agency’s car park, in Ikorodu, Lagos.
According to him, “It was after the expiration of the 30 days public notice issued by the Agency in line with the dictates of the law to all owners of the 22 abandoned vehicles to claim them that the government obtained the court order to auctioned them to interested members of the public.
“Let me commend the present administration for the on-going massive roads rehabilitation going on simultaneously across the State and to state clearly that motorists both private and commercial bus drivers should desist from driving against traffic (one-way) or causing traffic obstructions to other roads users with”.
While reiterating the State government’s zero-tolerance for the violation of the law under any guise, the Chairman maintained that the Agency would continuously prosecute traffic offenders until sanity is restored on Lagos roads and law-abiding citizens were allowed to commute without being impeded by unlawful individuals.
Meanwhile, the enforcement team of the Agency led by the Chairman over the weekend cleared all illegal trucks and abandoned vehicles causing traffic gridlock at ‘Guinness’ Ikeja / Ogba axis in line with the directive of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu.
Lagos state government should enforce that apapa with serious enforcement.