Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos has on Wednesday commissioned eight computerized vehicle inspection centres spread across the state.
The opening of the centers was aimed at ensuring that vehicles plying Lagos roads meet international standards as well as ensure drastic reduction in road carnage, he said.
The eight centres are located in Oko-Oba; Ayobo – Iyana-Ipaja; Oko-Afo; Badagry; PWD; Gbagada; Agric-Isawo and Epe. This addition joined the two centres – Ojodu and Odogunyan-Ikorodu – earlier commissioned in April last year.
With the centres in place, the government plans to completely eradicate physical inspection of vehicles while the issuance of road worthiness certificate would be hinged on the inspection of vehicles at any of the testing centre.
Ambode, who was represented at the commissioning by the Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Ladi Lawanson, said before the end of the year, 10 more centres would be opened.
The governor said it is the plan of his government to replicate the centres in all the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas.
He said, “We’ve taken this route to ensure that unlike what happened between 2013 and 2016, when over 416 lives were lost and 2,498 were injured due to road crashes on our roads as a result of human errors which research has proved to be responsible for 90 % of accidents while mechanical and environmental factors account for only 10%.
“Since the inauguration of the two centres at Ojodu and Ikorodu, 93,768 vehicles have been taken there between April 2017 and December 2017. Of these, 53,970 vehicles passed, 39,798 failed and 29, 977 of those that failed had a retest and passed.
“It is noteworthy that over 60% of the vehicles that failed did so as a result of faulty brakes while others failed due to issues relating to lighting, suspensions, tyres and so on.
“This effort has been tripled with the launch of these 8 new centres which will provide a faultless and human error-proof system that will indicate the state of your vehicles in the following areas among others: Emission system, the beam (lighting focus and aim), braking system, suspension system, body, tyres, etc.”
He appealed to Lagosians to patronize the centres for their benefit “so that our administration’s commitment to a safe, secure, reliable and efficient transport system will bear the expected fruits.
“This is because vehicle safety is a key component for total safety on the roads. As always, I wish to remind you that the government cannot do it alone. It is therefore the responsibility of all vehicle owners to maintain their vehicles”, he added.
He called on major stakeholders and partners in road transportation such as NURTW, RTEAN, Taxi operators and other road users to take advantage of our gesture through patronage of these 10 centres.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Minister of Transportation, Dr. Taiwo Salam, said the state government is leveraging on technology to reduce road carnage and improve road safety which is one of the administration’s watchwords.
The Managing Director of the Lagos State Computerized Vehicle Inspection Service (LACVIS), Prince Segun Obayendo, said each of the centres has capacity to inspect 80 vehicles per day.
He commended the governor for putting in place the safety infrastructure which he described as a project to save lives.
“This is about doing the right thing to get the right result by checking the health status of our vehicles. Unfortunately, we have not been doing this in the country, we have compromised on this,” he said.
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