RAYMOND OZOJI reports
The Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA), Anambra State Road Traffic Management Agency (ARTMA) and the Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra (OCHA-Brigade) have commenced joint enforcement on compulsory use of pedestrian bridges across the state.
The agencies also placed a N20,000 fine on defaulters who crossed federal highways instead of using the pedestrian bridges.
Flagging off the joint enforcement operation at the Unizik temporary site pedestrian bridge in Awka, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) Dr. Ossy Onuko, said it was not the first time government embarked on such exercise.
Onuko stated that over time, government has tried as much as it could to maintain public order within the Unizik junction axis. He said there is a pedestrian bridge there but sadly, according to him, the bridge is hugely underutilized because commuters preferred to cross the expressway through the gigantic drainages.
He said government was not interested in the N20,000 fine but has seen the risks crossing the highways posed to the lives and properties of the people, who despite the fact that they were deliberately exposing themselves to such risks, the role of government, according to him, is to ensure that people do the right thing.
The ACTDA boss maintained that the aim of the enforcement was to ensure that citizens do not get hurt as vehicles normally crashed there due largely to brake failures and that victims of the catastrophes were those who usually cross the expressway indiscriminately instead of using the pedestrian bridge.
He said there have been deaths resulting from fatal accidents and that a lot of people have been incapacitated for life due to accidents and other unwholesome activities going on in the area, adding that the job of the enforcement team is to ensure that people don't cross the expressway through the drainages instead they should use the pedestrian bridge.
Onuko however stressed that those who flouted the order would be made to be accountable for what they have done. He said those who disobeyed the order would be arrested and made to pay a minimum penalty fee of N20,000. That where it involved harassment and molestation of agency officials on enforcement, the culprits would be prosecuted accordingly.
He therefore emphasized that a joint taskforce team comprising ACTDA, OCHA-Brigade and ARTMA officials were already on ground at the Unizik junction Awka to ensure orderliness and strict compliance to the use of the pedestrian bridge in order to save lives.
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