To own a vehicle in Nigeria, especially in Lagos, is a big problem today.The Nigeria Police, Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs), Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Local Government Area (LGA) agents, street urchins (agberos and motor touts) and traffic robbers are in a fierce contest to outdo one another in harassing and chasing drivers up and down. Yet, there are CCTV cameras stationed everywhere in the city, monitoring motorists and their offences.
If you visit VIO offices in Lagos, you will pity vehicle owners who come to renew their vehicle particulars. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for vehicle owners to pass the test to renew their particulars. People are paying through the nose to get this basic process done.
In that office, I saw people paying fines ranging from N20,000 to N120,000 for one traffic offence or the other, especially for non-renewal of expired documents. One thing I discovered was that the insurance companies that used to send notifications one week before the expiry date of documents no longer do so. They now connive with government agencies to keep car owners in the dark, knowing full well that most people are too busy in Lagos to take preemptive action on their expired particulars. Now the Federal Government has devised another means of milking vehicle owners of their hard-earned money with the introduction of a compulsory N1,000 levy for proof of ownership of vehicles, even with the hardships created by fuel subsidy removal. Taxi drivers and commercial bus drivers have increased the cost of transportation beyond the ordinary man’s reach. Many will no longer cope with ownership of vehicles, especially in Lagos.
My vehicle was vandalised along the road where it developed a fault and I parked it to look for a mechanic. None of the ubiquitous CCTV and traffic cameras was able to capture the faces of the hoodlums who committed the dastardly act, but the cameras were able to pick the offence of parking the car in a wrong place. How I wish your secret cameras are picking the activities and faces of criminals the same way they are picking vehicles with different traffic offences. Lagos would have been the safest place to live in the world if the cameras could also capture the faces of hoodlums that are harassing motorists and commuters everywhere in Lagos.
*Philomina Ngozi Christopher-Oji is the publisher of Cornerstonenewsng.com.
