By Stanley Onyekwere
The Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) has warned road users especially security personnel to desist from committing traffic violations along the busy Abuja Airport Road.
AMMC while revealing that it was aware that most of the violations are committed by people in uniform, stressed that enforcement against traffic violation is not a respecter of rank.
The AMMC Coordinator, Umar Shuaibu, made this assertion at the recent commencement of intensive enforcement of traffic and environmental regulations, as part of efforts to ensure sanity is restored in the area.
Shuaibu said henceforth, anybody that caught driving counter traffic, will not only be told to go back, but will be arrested and the vehicle impounded.
He reiterated that no vehicle is allowed to park or ply on undesignated area, along this Airport Road, no passenger should stand and flag a vehicle to pick him or her except is an area designated for such.
He that there enough lay-bays along the road, sufficient to serve the public, but what is lacking is discipline, in order to make out environment decent.
“We are aware that most of these violations are committed by people in uniform. So no matter your rank, enforcement against the violation is not a respecter of rank.
“We will make sure that we show example. If you are a man in uniform show example to people that are not in uniform. So anybody, no matter how highly placed, must respect our regulations.
“We had engaged the stakeholders, which are transport operators along this road. We called them, and we have all agreed that this assignment is important, in order to make sure that sanity is restored.
“Henceforth, anybody that is making the Airport Road unsafe and unclean, is going to be arrested. From now on, this exercise is going to be continuous.the officers in charge of this enforcement, we count on you. We need your support, in order to make it work.”
He continues: “Whatever image you see on Abuja Airport Road, is the image of Nigeria. If the traffic along the Airport Road is free, Nigeria traffic is free; and if the Airport Road is clean, Nigeria is clean. So we must make sure that it is clean and free always, in order to have a very good image of our country.
“Secondly, the Airport road is the one that conveys traffic from the north and south along Kaduna-Lokoja expressway, so it has multiple roles. That’s why the traffic along this road is heavy.”
Reacting to the development, Deputy National President, Chief Abubakar Sadiq, Road Transport Employers Union, who described the exercise as a welcome development, said they are quite ready to cooperate in any form, to make sure that it is successful.
