Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State
has urged motorists across the state not to
cooperate with officials of the federal task
force, who have been deployed in major
roads in the state.
There have been concerns over the sudden
taking over of Lagos roads by officials of the
task force as the Lagos State Traffic
Management Authority, LASTMA, had been
the agency in charge of traffic in the state.
Fashola said the task force officials, who are
part of the Subsidy Re-Investment and
Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, of the
Presidency, had no right to control traffic on
Lagos roads.
He, therefore, urged Lagosians to resist
them.
Fashola spoke during the fifth anniversary of
the Uniformed Voluntary Clubs held at the
Ikeja Police College on Tuesday.
He described the task force as an illegal
agency set up by the Federal Government
few months to the 2015 elections in a
desperate attempt to win elections.
He said, “The SURE-P task force has no right
to manage traffic on Lagos roads. The only
agency authorised to manage traffic in Lagos
on the federal roads are LASTMA and the
Federal Road Safety Corps. Citizens should
just resist them and refuse to cooperate with
them”.
According to the governor, money recouped
from the removal of subsidy and channelled
into SURE-P ought to have been invested on
dilapidated federal roads in Lagos especially
the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.
Fashola added that investment in the task
force was contrary to the assurances by
President Goodluck Jonathan that the
subsidy would be used to improve the lives
of Nigerians.
He said, “So you see how it has been
improving our lives. The money should have
been spent on roads; Apapa-Oshodi
Expressway is one of them; that is where
SURE-P money should have been invested
not to dissipate it into political organisation
in a very wanton desperation to win
elections.
“This is the method that has been tried
before, it was tried in 2006 and it did not
produce any result. The result it produced
was that they were roundly defeated. So, if
you go into what does not work, we will not
be provoked, we expect that in time, reasons
will prevail”.
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