Oyo State government has said that it has the legal right to direct and regulate free flow of traffic in the state, especially as it affects Lagos-Ibadan Expressway which was under construction.
The Chairman of the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Agency, OYRTMA, made this disclosure on Tuesday in Ibadan.
He remarked that there had been reports directing motorists using the road to be aware of diversions which might lead to traffic congestion if there were no regulation by government, which prompted Oyo State Road Traffic Management Agency, OYRTMA, to dispatch hundred of its men to the Ibadan part of the road.
The Chairman, OYRTMA, Dr. Akin Fagbemi, in a reaction to an online publication which quoted the Federal Road Safety Commission, Oyo State Command as claiming that the State Traffic Management Agency did not have legal right to direct traffic on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, said OYRTMA did not go beyond its boundary.
He told newsmen that the motive for sending the men of OYRTMA to the expressway was to collaborate with other government agencies to bring succour to the people, as the partial closure was expected to cause traffic congestion, especially at critical areas where diversion of traffic were to take place.
Fagbemi hinted further that the State Road Transport Management Authority Laws (2009) empowered the agency to control traffic and enforce state and national laws that govern safe use of the roads, especially within the state boundaries.
“It will be recalled that the company handling the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway announced that there would be partial road closure from September 2nd and the state governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, instructed that officers of OYRTMA be posted to those places to ensure free vehicular movement and also to provide assistance to motorists in case of any mishap.
“We are all working for the same purpose, which is to make travelling along this axis easy for our people. Nobody is taking the glory for doing that.”
Akin Fagbemi reiterated that he would soon embark on familiarisation tour of all federal and state traffic agencies to pave way for further collaboration among the sister agencies.
