The activities of touts who mount illegal motor parks and traders who abandon their shops for street trading on roads in Owerri Municipal, Imo State, have for long frustrated business activities, motorists, and other road users. The menace had continued on Douglas, Wetheral, Tetlow, Okigwe, and Mbaise roads, among others, despite the efforts of several past administrations. But story is changing with Rex Anunobi, a seasoned lawyer and administrator, as the state commissioner for transport. Ebere Uzoukwa, media/special projects assistant to the commissioner, speaks to Saby Elemba on the strategy deployed by the commissioner to bring sanity to Owerri Municipal roads, among other issues. Excerpts:
Sanity has returned to Douglas, Mbaise, Wetheral, Okigwe and other roads in Owerri Municipal and road users can now heave a sigh of relief. Could you tell us how Rex Anunobi, the commissioner for transport, handled that situation?
Of course, you know that Douglas Road was occupied by traders and hoodlums, otherwise known as touts, who caused traffic jam on major roads. And you know that Douglas Road is a presidential road, but it took the courage of the commissioner and other security agencies in the state to get the traders off the road. It was a joint operation of the Ministry of Transport, the ENTRACO, etc., under the supervision of the commissioner for transport. They all came together to ensure that street traders, touts were all sent out of the roads, every corner on these roads, and the illegal parks.
There is also surveillance almost on daily basis on those areas with the help of the Imo State Traffic Management Authority (ISTMA), the state-owned traffic control agency. The law has been there but the commissioner revived it with the approval of the state governor. So, as I speak with you, ISTMA is mounting daily surveillance on that road to ensure that street traders do not return to that road again and also to ensure that touts do not take over the place again. That’s, of course, one of the strategic reasons the Ministry of Transport had to put a barrier on Douglas and Wetheral Roads.
Are you facing any stiff challenge from those people who were dislodged?
Yes, the Ministry of Transport has a challenge of proliferation of illegal parks in almost every corner of Owerri Municipal Council and the commissioner for transport has made it compulsory that all illegal parks must be dismantled. He has told the National Union of Road Transport Workers, and that is where we are having issues.
The commissioner has taken it upon himself to ensure that traffic and the proliferation of illegal parks are reduced to the barest minimum. And, of course, you know that there is hunger in the land, everybody wants to eke out a living, everybody wants to do one or two things to get money, but that should not override the general interest of the public. You know the governor removed the roundabouts and replaced them with intersections, in the urban renewal efforts of the government. If you allow these illegal parks to litter the state, they will reduce the serenity of the state capital, Owerri.
Some traders appear to be recalcitrant that they find it difficult to obey state laws put in place to allow free flow of traffic. Are there any sustainable measures to complement what the commissioner is doing?
Yes, the commissioner of transport is in collaboration with the commissioner of police and other agencies of the government, like ENTRACO, etc. The Ministry of Transport handles traffic, that is why you see the ministry collaborating with ENTRACO for this assignment. While ENTRACO oversees issues of street trading, the Ministry of Transport oversees traffic issues. ENTRACO has been assigned a duty to ensure that traders do not return to that road. So, they are equally mounting surveillance along that road to ensure that traders relocate to appropriate markets.
But the government has built a lot of markets, why are the traders not relocating fully to those markets?
Yes, the state government has built markets but I don’t know why traders would like to always occupy the roads to do their business. The ENTRACO has mounted surveillance and the commissioner, due to his understanding with all these other agencies, has mandated them to live up to their responsibilities of restoring sanity and ensuring that traders do not come back to block the roads again.
The Yuletide is coming and some Imolites certainly will visit home; what message do you have for them?
One, with the revival of the Imo State Transport Management Authority, the Ministry of Transport is poised to ensure effective management and control of traffic in Owerri capital city. That is why you see ISTMA officials moving from one place to the other arresting traffic offenders. There is a mobile court which is attached to the Ministry of Transport; as soon as traffic offenders are arrested, they will face the law, that is Law No.3 of 2011, and Law No. 7 of 2007. There are laws and that’s the reason the commissioner ensured that these laws must be reactivated.
Secondly, we also appeal to drivers and motorists to always observe traffic signs because that will really help us. Driving recklessly without adhering to traffic signs and rules will not be to our general interest. Then the commissioner is equally putting other measures again to address the issue of illegal parks. You know that some of these people are recalcitrant, they can fight you, so we will also get the backing of security agencies so that our field men will not be attacked. That is why we are going to collaborate fully with the police to ensure that the people are lawful.
Thirdly, we have the consent of the people on illegal parks, there are many of them, and the commissioner has expressed sadness. After the commissioner’s meeting with the police hierarchy in the state, measures to arrest the offenders will be fully put in place because this government is people-oriented.
The commissioner, having been in the government for so many years, understands what public relations means, for the government to have a good image. So, he is worried that some of these hoodlums are hiding under the Ministry of Transport to harass and molest innocent motorists. The commissioner wants to make sure that no group of persons would constitute themselves into an illegal group to harass innocent motorists. The commissioner is working really hard so that they will understand more that the right people are running the government of His Excellency, Hope Uzodimma.
