I’m urging the Ogun State Government to
urgently check the excesses of the VIOs particularly in the Sango Ota
area. Granted, such an agency is necessary to prevent vehicles that are
dangerous and not roadworthy from plying the roads, their motive,
unfortunately, is not to discharge this key responsibility but how to
make money. Sadly, the money does not go to the purse of the government.
At Ojuore, Ota on Thursday, August 11 at
8.25 am, I was stopped by these personnel who demanded my vehicle
papers. “Luckily” for them, the vehicle licence had expired in July (11
days ago) while others- insurance, roadworthiness certificate, driving
licence- were still valid.
I admitted my offence but perhaps
because they sensed that I was being official in my approach, they
started behaving like hooligans. One of the operatives said one of
my number plates had to be removed while another one countered that
removal of only one was not enough but the two. Surprisingly, this was
after an officer who appeared to be their boss had assured me that they
would not prevent me from attending to whatever urgent matters that were
waiting for me that morning.
Despite the fact that they were already
in possession of my original vehicle papers, they carried out the threat
of removing my number plate and the day’s business had to be
suspended. One of them entered my car and off I drove to their office.
At the VIO office along Ijoko Road, I met officers who politely told me
that my car would be released after renewing my vehicle licence and
payment of N5000 fine. Following assurances that official receipts
would be issued , I looked for the money to renew the licence and paid
the fine. It became impossible to have the car back until the following
day.
What however prompted me to write this
is that among many motorists “caught” by the VIOs that Thursday
morning for similar or worse offences, I was the only person taken to
their office. Someone on the VIO premises who pretended to be a
sympathiser provided the reason why this was so: That I was made to go
through the inconvenience because I did not “play ball”. That is, I
didn’t “tip” those who arrested my car. He said if I had “cooperated”,
I would have saved time and paid less. This encounter and a similar
experience with Lagos VIOs sometime in 2010 gave me insights into
corruption and high-handedness of this agency
In recent times, there has been
muscle-flexing between the VIOs and the Federal Road Safety Corps
concerning which of the two has the right to check vehicle particulars.
While this lasts, Nigerian motorists have been subjected to incessant
harassment and molestation. Motorists, particularly the commercial
ones, dread the VIOs not because the personnel are passionate about
enforcing standards on the roads but because of their penchant to
exploit every minor infraction for their own gain. Getting into the
trap of the VIOs is the worst thing that can happen to a transporter.
Thus, many motorists prefer to “settle”
to avoid loss of more money and time. There are times I see dangerous,
smoky and overloaded vehicles on our various roads and wonder where are
these VIOs. Ironically, they stalk and swarm around relatively new and
more roadworthy vehicles. The personnel are no more seeing themselves
as contributing to ensuring safety on the roads . For instance, during
my recent encounter with them, none of them bothered to check the
general condition of my car- the brake, mirrors, trafficator etc
The question is why are more people
paying into personal pockets of some personnel at the expense of the
government that pays their salaries? Why are various state governments
complaining that they are broke when some of their agents are smiling to
the banks everyday and also giving such governments bad names?
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