Task force impounds 11,300 okadas, 5,520 vehicles across Lagos in 2021

Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit (Task force) has disclosed that it impounded no fewer than 11,300 commercial motorcycles known better as okadas, and 5,520 vehicles during its enforcement operations in 2021.

Aside from the impounded 11,300 okadas, and 5,520 vehicles, the enforcement team noted that it also arrested 9,664 suspects in the year 2021, according to a statement titled, ‘Lagos Taskforce Rolls Out Scorecard of Activities in Y2021′, on Monday and posted on the State Government Facebook page.

The Task force Chairman, CSP Shola Jejeloye, while reviewing the agency’s 2021 activities at the agency’s headquarters, noted that the okadas and vehicles’ impoundments and arrests were carried out during a series of raids on black spots, illegal okada parks and also cracked down on traffic offenders.

He noted the agency impounded the vehicles and okadas for flouting the State’s Traffic Law on restricted routes in the state, adding that the operations were carried out to clamp down on traffic infractions as well as curb criminal activities while entrenching sanity in the system.

According to him, the task force operatives also impounded 5,520 vehicles for various offences, including driving on BRT Corridor, One-Way, dangerous driving, and traffic obstruction, while drivers of the vehicles were charged to court in line with the severity of the crimes committed on the roads.

Informing that 11,300 Okadas were impounded while 11,180 of them were crushed during the year under review, Jejeloye said the task force is going to make Lagos uninhabitable for recalcitrant Okada riders, who he claimed, are hell-bent on frustrating the efforts of the government in sanitising its highways and environment.

CSP Jejeloye averred that he will leave no stone unturned in carrying out environmental monitoring and clearing of shanties as done in places like Lekki Coastal Road, Railway Line, Ijora, White Sand, Breweries, and Iwaya in Yaba axis of Lagos among others last year.

He said, “These shanties were built haphazardly without any form of environmental provision for waste disposal or drainage channels. This is why most of these areas are flooded and overwhelmed whenever it rains. We will not condone it any longer”.

“Wetlands, which are very common attributes of a Coastal State like Lagos, if not properly managed could worsen the flooding usually experienced during the rainy season. We have to make sure they are not encroached upon by illegal occupants. That is the reason we partnered with other MDAs to reclaim wetlands like Odo-Iyalaro.”

The chairman added, “We will clamp down on illegal workshops in the nooks and crannies of the State that are obstructing traffic on our inner roads, disposing of their waste indiscriminately and polluting the environment. We had dislodged them at Maryland, Apapa, Surulere, Lawanson and other areas of the State last year and we will do more this year.”