The Cross River State Government has limited the activities of Vehicle Inspection Officers VIOs) to office-based duties, following protests from commercial transport operators over alleged harassment and steep penalties.
Governor Bassey Otu announced the directive on Saturday in Calabar, following a meeting with transport stakeholders, in response to complaints from commercial bus and tricycle operators who accused enforcement teams of issuing excessive fines, harassing motorists, and imposing inflated penalties.
According to a statement from Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Linus Obogo, the new measures include that VIO officials will no longer operate on the roads, their responsibilities will now be restricted to administrative functions, while other transport regulatory bodies are expected to operate strictly within their statutory mandates.
The Governor explained that the Commercial Transport Regulatory Agency, CTRA, will now focus on vehicle registration and approved ticket sales, and that enforcement officers must operate in proper uniforms with verifiable identification.
According to him, the Traffic Management and Regulatory Agency, TRAMRA, has also been instructed to limit its role to traffic management functions.
Also, commercial bus and tricycle operators are exempt from ticket purchases on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays, a measure intended to provide financial relief.
He stated that daily ticket fee of tricycle operators has been reduced from N1,200 to N500. Night tricycle operations are now prohibited, with operations ending at 6 p.m. daily.
The statement added that the government has approved a reduction in daily transport ticket fees from N850 to N500, while penalties for failure to purchase tickets have been lowered to N10,000.
The statement added that traffic-related fines have also been cut by 50 per cent and must be remitted only into designated government accounts to prevent illegal collections.
Governor Otu stated that the reforms aim to restore order in the state’s transport sector while easing the financial burden on drivers.
Veteran journalist and recipient of A.B.C Yola, Reporter of the Year Award (1997), Hassan Umar Shallpella, works with WAP as a Regional Correspondence. He was trained at Institute of Mass Communication and Technology Jos and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Training School Lagos.He was a News desk Editor and a Correspondent at the Punch newspaper and till 2019, was the Deputy Editor ofThe Scope newspaper.
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