The Lagos State Authorities has issued a stern warning to occasion organizers and venue operators towards utilizing public roads as parking or overflow areas, citing worsening site visitors congestion and dangers to public security.
The warning, delivered Sunday by Olalekan Bakare-Oki, Normal Supervisor of the Lagos State Visitors Administration Authority (LASTMA), follows a sequence of on‑the‑spot inspections at site visitors‑susceptible corridors throughout the town.
Bakare-Oki expressed alarm on the rising pattern of lavish weddings, live shows, and different gatherings spilling onto public roads, usually with out authorization.
The apply, he mentioned, not solely fuels gridlock but in addition blocks entry for ambulances, fireplace companies, and different emergency responders.
“Visitors gridlocks arising from unregulated social actions represent an egregious affront to collective wellbeing and a pointless obstacle to the town’s {economic} momentum.
“It’s each needed and pressing to reassert, in categorical phrases, that no particular person, company physique, or occasion organisers, no matter stature or affiliation, has the prerogative to applicable public roadways as ancillary extensions of their personal ventures or leisure domains,” Bakare-Oki warned.
He defined that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration is dedicated to sustaining equity and self-discipline on Lagos roads, including that violators will face sanctions. Any corridor, membership, or social venue discovered responsible of encroaching on entry roads, he mentioned, will likely be chargeable for penalties and doable authorized motion.
The assertion alerts a renewed push by Lagos authorities to handle the town’s continual site visitors woes, an issue that has lengthy annoyed commuters in one of many world’s most densely populated city areas. Main roads are sometimes gridlocked for hours throughout weekends, when high-profile weddings and events are staged, typically in prosperous neighborhoods with restricted parking infrastructure.
To strengthen enforcement, Bakare-Oki directed LASTMA models to accentuate patrols and sharpen intelligence gathering, significantly throughout festive seasons when giant gatherings are frequent. He additionally urged venue operators to behave responsibly by using licensed site visitors personnel or collaborating with LASTMA to develop occasion‑particular site visitors administration plans.
To bolster compliance and proactive intervention, he additional inspired members of the general public to promptly report violations through the Company’s devoted toll-free emergency line: 0800-00-LASTMA (080000527862).
The transfer displays broader considerations over the pressure on Lagos’s transport system, the place a mixture of speedy city development, restricted highway area, and insufficient public transit has left residents weak to day by day site visitors jams. For now, officers say the federal government’s precedence is compliance and deterrence.
