At least 35,000 professional drivers in Lagos State have visited the various Drivers’ Institutes located in different parts of the state in the last three months for re-certification. This is in compliance with the new traffic law.
P.M.NEWS gathered that government will soon clamp down on commercial and private drivers who have not been recertified by the drivers’ institutes in the state.
The new traffic law in the state made it compulsory for drivers to attend a drivers’ institute once in a year.
Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Drivers’ Institutes, LASDRI, Ayodeji Oyedokun, disclosed that there had been a rush by professional drivers to get recertified in order to avoid running foul of the law.
He disclosed that over 35,000 professional drivers had voluntarily enrolled in the state-owned driving institutes across the state.
Oyedokun disclosed further that each of the institutes received at least 75 professional drivers daily who came to get recertification certificate after going through one-day training.
“We have not really started the enforcement of the law on drivers being recertified but people are voluntarily complying. Right now, we have over 35,000 drivers on our data base.
“The enforcement of the Lagos Traffic Law has really enhanced patronage. We have five centres located in Epe, Ikorodu, Badagry, Ikeja and Lagos Island.
“The idea is behaviour motivation process, which is measured through the questionnaires we are sending to corporate organisations where some trained drivers came from.
“The responses we are getting show that the people that sent them are getting interested in the programme. They are seeing the changes in the behaviour of drivers they sent for the training,” he stated.
On the penalty awaiting erring professional drivers, Oyedokun said: “There is law that makes it compulsory for operational drivers to attend the institute once a year, and there are penalties for failure to attend.”