VIO Ready to Enforce Ban on ‘Danfo’ in Lagos

Matilda Omonaiye

The Vehicle Inspection Service Office of the Lagos State government has said it was prepared to enforce the impending ban on the operations of intracity passenger minibuses, popularly called danfo, by the state government.
This was disclosed by the state’s Chief Vehicle Inspection Officer, Engr. Toriola Gbolahan, in a chat with Newsmakers, on Thursday, in Lagos.
Gbolahan said the service, popularly referred to as VIO, had adequate number of personnel and equipment to successfully enforce the ban.
He said, “The state government has given us enough men and we also have in place the logistics requirements to arrest any erring individual when the enforcement starts. Besides, we have inter-agency collaboration with the police and LASTMA whenever we are carrying out arrests to prevent attack on our officers. Residents are advised to cooperate with our officers, while carrying out their lawful duties.
Also speaking on the overall mandate of the service and its renewed efforts to ensure that only vehicles that are certified roadworthy are found on the roads, Gbolahan said its officers had been mandated to enforce the Highway Code to the letter.
He said that VIOs “now have authority to impound vehicles, whose owners or drivers violate any of these codes, anywhere they are found and not only when they are on the road”.
Gbolahan added, “Section 32 of the Traffic Law empowers us to effect arrest at home. Therefore, we don’t have to chase offenders. We take down their registration numbers and effect the arrest anywhere, including their homes. We impounded more than 189 vehicles right in their owners’ homes last year.
“And we are resolved not to spare any offender. We enforce the law no matter the type of vehicle, be it commercial or private. We have also impounded BRT buses that are not fit to be on our roads.”
Gbolahan also debunked allegations that the agency prevents commercial vehicles not registered in Lagos from plying the state’s roads.
According to him, the agency only looks out for vehicles that are not roadworthy, except for vehicles that are not branded to identify the state they are from.
“This is important because of the security risks involved. We usually put our ‘off-road’ stickers on such vehicles, but the drivers are not cooperating with us. The common practice with most of them is to remove the stickers and put the vehicles back on the road,” he said.
He enjoined members of the public to ensure that their vehicles are in good condition before they put them on the road, adding: “When we impound such rickety vehicles, we take them to our work yard and compel the owners to invite their mechanics to work on them. Meanwhile, we charge them demurrage for the number of days it takes to effect the repairs.
“Our appeal to the public is that they should endeavour to put their vehicles in good condition. They should make it a culture and not wait for government to impound them,” he said.