Traffic: Ambode sacks LASTMA CEO, appoints ex-AIG

The Lagos State
Governor,
Akinwunmi
Ambode, has
sacked the Chief
Executive Officer
of the Lagos
State Traffic
Management
Authority, Mr.
Young Arabamen, over the worsening traffic gridlock in the
state.
The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Habib Aruna,
said in a statement on Monday that a retired Assistant
Inspector General of Police, Mr. Christian Olakpe, had been
appointed as the new LASTMA boss.
According to the statement, Olakpe was appointed as part of
efforts to revamp LASTMA for improved performance and
better relations with the public.
Ambode was quoted as saying that Olakpe’s appointment
was in strong response to the consistent complaints by
members of the public on the situation of traffic on Lagos
roads.
The governor, it would be recalled, had sacked the General
Manager of LASTMA, Mr. Babatunde Edu, in September and
appointed Bashir Braimoh in his stead.
“But the decision to appoint a seasoned former AIG as the
CEO of LASTMA was due to the fact that the impetus
expected with the previous appointment was not fully
actualised due to the docile nature of the headship of the
authority,” the statement read.
The new LASTMA CEO, who served as the Force Public
Relations Officer under former Inspector General of Police,
Mr. Tafa Balogun, in 2003, also served as the Commissioner
of Police in charge of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal,
Lagos; and headed the Plateau and Bayesla police
commands before his retirement
Olakpe, who joined the Nigeria Police Force in 1982, is a
graduate of Sociology and Anthropology from the University
of Nigeria, Nsukka and the National Institute of Policy and
Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos.
Meanwhile, a socio-political organisation, National Image,
has launched an initiative tagged, the ‘Lagos State Traffic
Control Volunteers’ to help check the menace of traffic
gridlock in the Lagos metropolis.
The initiative, which was inaugurated on Monday at the
Lagos Secretariat, Ikeja, aims to recruit volunteers from all
the 57 councils across the state to help control traffic in their
areas.
According to the coordinator of the group, Mr. Seyi
Bamigbade, the initiative will pave the way for individuals
who are willing to collaborate with the relevant government
agencies to eradicate traffic gridlock in the metropolis; even
as he said recruitment was still ongoing in all the council
areas.
Also speaking at the inauguration, the Director of Protocol,
Lagos State Governor’s Office, Mr. Tunde Onigbanjo, said the
initiative was commendable, urging Lagosians to join the
group.