Deborah Akinyosoye
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has unveiled a Media Traffic Mayor initiative to augment its officers in the harmonisation of urban mobility across the state.
The LASTMA General Manager, Mr. Olalekan Bakare-Oki, disclosed this in a statement issued to the media in Lagos on Sunday.
According to him, the initiative is designed to fortify and complement the relentless efforts of LASTMA officers in the formidable yet indispensable task of ensuring traffic order, safety, and mobility in the state.
“This pioneering scheme represents an unprecedented synthesis of media advocacy and operational enforcement, strategically leveraging the communicative authority of the press, to stimulate heightened public compliance.
Bakare-Oki accentuated the irreplaceable role of the media as both architects of public consciousness and catalysts for societal transformation.
“The synergy will also promote civic enlightenment, and engender a profound reorientation of behavioural attitudes on Lagos roads,” he said.
He affirmed that the ‘Traffic Mayor’ initiative constituted an epoch-making milestone in the state’s quest to entrench a sustainable framework for traffic governance.
The general manager added that media professionals would transcend their conventional role as purveyors of information to assume the mantle of ambassadors of orderliness.
According to him, it will also highlight them as exemplars of civic discipline and custodians of public morality in Lagos’ transportation architecture.
“Under this collaborative framework, traffic mayors will operate in organic symbiosis with LASTMA officers; sensitising the motoring public, amplifying traffic advisories, countering misinformation and embodying the ideals of lawful conduct on Lagos roads,” he said.
The Director of Traffic Advocacy and Special Adviser to the Mayor, Mr. Awoyemi Jimmy, said that traffic management in a megacity such as Lagos could not be sustained through enforcement alone.
He explained that it was anchored in enduring partnerships with thought leaders, media vanguards, and civic stakeholders.
He further affirmed that the state government, under Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, remained irrevocably committed to deploying multifaceted solutions that guaranteed seamless urban mobility.
“Government is also committed to stimulate socio-economic productivity and safeguard the dignity of every Lagos residents navigate the metropolis,” he stated.