Lagos State Government said yesterday that at least, 240,000 vehicles plying Lagos roads were not roadworthy. Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, disclosed this while briefing journalists at the 2016 Bi-Annual Safety Week of the Lagos State Vehicle Inspection Services held at the State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja. Mobereola said about 45,037 motorists were apprehended for one offence or the other. The commissioner called on motorists to take issue of safety seriously to avert road carnage.
It is in this wise that we say safety is not just a government thing. Rather, it is for all citizens to ensure that their vehicles are roadworthy.” Moberola, who spoke on the theme of the event, “Unroadworthy (Rickety) Vehicles: Threat to Life on our Roads,” said ensuring that vehicles were roadworthy had become a focal point of the ministry’s oversight function on the sector. According to him, saving lives is the single most important responsibility of any government.
The commissioner said statistics had shown that Africa had only two per cent of world’s vehicles, but that in contrast, 16 per cent of global vehicular deaths were traceable to Africa. Moberola added that in that same study, Nigeria and South Africa had the highest fatality rates of 33.7 and 31.9 per cent per 100,000 population yearly. He said: “Our efforts at ensuring security include rehabilitating the roads, improving drivers’ competence, insisting through monitoring the state of vehicles and promoting attitudinal changes. “When you maintain a vehicle you are guaranteeing a life. There are no economic arguments for allowing rickety vehicles just simply because we cannot place a premium or value on any life.
The consequences outstrip the gains.”
