By Fred Edoreh
A year or two ago, I got a frantic call from a cousin of mine in Lagos who, in his hurry, had driven on a one way. His car was impounded and was put up for auction and he wanted me to help.
I contacted all senior police and traffic officers I knew to help him but I noticed they all dodged getting involved. Luckily for him, he bought back the car at the auction for about N200k for which he also needed me to contribute about N100k.
Last week, there was a widow who cried profusely at the auction as her son’s mini-bus bought at hire purchase for N1.8m was auctioned for N450k, and that was because she cried out to bidders not to continue to raise the bid. She had brought only N50k in the hope to buy back the bus but she will now have to find additional N400k to claim the bus within 48 hours otherwise it will be subject to a daily demurrage of N50k.
Your initial reaction might be to sympathise with the victims and accuse the government of insensitivity. That was how I felt when my cousin was involved.
Looking at the whole situation, I want to say I support the action of the Lagos Govt. We cannot and should not continue to be lawless. In a city like Lagos, traffic control is of high importance. I do not understand why somebody will want to drive in a prohibited direction. We must submit to the organisation of our city, it is the only way we can have some sanity and secure easy flow of traffic.
There is something terribly wrong with a situation where motorists and commuters would be in traffic for eight hours only for us to find that it was caused by just the lawlessness of some people not to obey regulations.
The Lagos policy is even fair enough. In certain parts of the world, including England, such impounded vehicles are not even auctioned with the opportunity for buy back. They are crushed in the junk yard. Finito! This shows how serious the issue can be.
A caveat, though, is that some of the one-ways and prohibited roads are not properly marked with signs for drivers to know, especially those going into some areas for the first time. There are also some points at which the regulations are inconsistent with normal traffic rules. The govt should take time to put clearer signs because arresting vehicles for contravening a sign that was not stated or not clear is unfair.
All said, I do not think the auction policy was designed just for the govt to raise revenue. It is to serve as a deterrent for us not to do the wrong things. If we obey traffic regulations, our travels to work, business and socials will be a lot easier. That is how it is in the developed, advanced world that we all admire.
I have seen, in Europe, how a traffic officer detained a police vehicle for wrong parking. As we say in street parlance, “you gawk, you collect” or as they say in Warri of my home state, “if you do anyhow, you go see anyhow.”
My two pence.
