Lagos Taskforce impounds 8,642 vehicles, 18,537 okadas

In the last year, the Lagos State Taskforce has been responsible for the impounding of 8,642 automobiles as well as 18,537 motorbikes that are often referred to as okadas in the state.

CSP Shola Jejeloye, who serves as Chairman of the Taskforce, revealed this information when assessing the operational actions of the agency in 2022.

“We impounded 8,642 vehicles in 2022 for various traffic offences including driving on one-way streets, obstructing the free flow of traffic, driving on the reserved BRT corridor, and parking to pick up or drop off passengers at unapproved bus stops in Lagos,” he said. “These offences ranged from driving on one-way streets to driving on the reserved BRT corridor.”

He said that all of the perpetrators will be brought before the court properly.

Jejeloye went on to say that the year 2022 saw the operations of commercial motorcycles, commonly known as okada, which was banned in 9 local government areas (LGAs) and 6 local community development areas (LCDAs) within the state. This resulted in the confiscation and seizure of 18,537 motorcycles for operating despite the ban.

“As a result of the court proceedings, 17,980 motorcycles were destroyed in Alausa in order to act as a deterrence to other people who were planning to operate okadas.

“The challenge of implementing the ban on the activities of okada in Lagos was rather a tremendous one, but we were up to the task. In order to guarantee that they were unable to continue their illegal activities, we conducted undercover operations on a number of roads and other prohibited routes.

A total of 156 riders and 122 passengers were made to face the mobile court for patronizing the unwanted okada operators,” Jejeloye stated.

The Chairman also highlighted some of the lofty feats attained by the Agency in 2022, which were the raid of criminal hideouts, arrest of the one-chance syndicate, demolition of shanties posing environmental hazards to Lagosians and bringing the activities of land grabbers in the State to zero.

He further disclosed that the Lagos State Taskforce made a series of arrests of unscrupulous individuals who specialised in vandalising both public and privately owned properties.

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“These are part of the gains achieved as a result of the synergy between agencies of the State Government through providing security backup for them when they encounter hindrance in the process of carrying out their legitimate duties,” he said.