Traffic Enforcement Corps Arrest 49,000 Offenders In Ogun

No fewer than 49,000 road traffic offenders were arrested by the Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) in Ogun State in the last seven years.

The agency’s Corps Commander and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ayo Sangofadeji, who gave the figure in an interview with newsmen in Abeokuta said that the offenders were either fined or charged to court to face appropriate penalties.

The corps commander said that five officials had been dismissed for gross misconduct, adding that TRACE would not tolerate indiscipline and sharp practises among its officers.

He said that the agency had alleviated the suffering of motorists and improved road traffic management significantly since it was established on March 9, 2005.

Sangofadeji said that traffic situation in the state would have been chaotic if TRACE was not in existence.

“As at today, 49,000 offenders have been apprehended; it is not a small deal in Ogun, a state that had less than 3.5 million people.

“The 49,000 people are the ones on records in the system, not to talk of the motorcycles,” he said.

The commander identified institutional factors, poor road networks, lack of alternative roads and dilapidated infrastructure as some of the causes of the frequent traffic gridlock on roads.

He pointed out that the increasing number of different religious bodies along the corridor of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway had compounded the traffic situation on the highway.

He, therefore, requested urgent measures by government and other stakeholders to address the problem.

“Every tanker in Nigeria today must pass through Ogun State to go and load in Lagos and that is enormous.

“If you look at the number of petrol stations in Nigeria today, and tankers coming from far places to Lagos, the challenge is definitely beyond the state,” Sangofadeji said.

He commended the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Nigeria Police for collaborating with TRACE in the management of road traffic.