Extortion: 25 LASTMA officers punished in 3 months – GM

The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) says it arrested and reprimanded 25 of its officers for extorting motorists in the last three months.

Its General Manager, Mr Olajide Oduyoye, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.

Oduyoye said the authority was able to achieve this because it had undercover agents who went about as motorists.

“Any officer that is caught by the agents is brought to book because the authority has zero tolerance for corrupt officials.

“We understand that no matter what we say or do, there will always be somebody, an officer that thinks he can be smarter and go away with it.

“I, as the General Manager, will do everything within my powers to ensure the corrupt ones are kicked out of our system,” he said.

Oduyoye urged motorists to obey traffic rules to avoid being extorted by LASTMA officials.

He said that any officer that could not resist enticement from traffic offenders would be penalised if caught.

The general manager urged LASTMA officers to protect their jobs jealously by punishing offenders so that the people would  speak well of them.

“So, let us do our job to make the agency proud,” he said. (NAN)