Kelly Okungbowa, the coordinator of the Edo State Public Response Safety Team, revealed on Thursday that a mobile court will soon be established to try traffic offenders in the state.
He noted that if found guilty, offenders will first face community service, as Governor Monday Okpehbolo has commanded that no one be sent to prison at this time.
Okungbowa stated this after the governor established the safety team, which attempts to address regular traffic jams, notably in and around King Square, Benin City, and other congested intersections.
Indiscriminate parking, passenger pickup and drop-off, and street trading, among other concerns, frequently contribute to jams.
Okungbowa stressed the significance of alerting the public about the team’s existence during a sensitisation tour of the city centre with other squad members.
“We are here to clear Ring Road and all the streets around King Square of illegal street trading and wrongful parking, which lead to traffic gridlock around the city centre.
“The governor has introduced the Public Response Safety Team, and our role is to clear the city centre and ensure that traders on the streets and walkways, market women, and drivers who park or trade indiscriminately are held accountable to ensure a free flow of traffic,” he said.
He also warned bus and taxi drivers, market women, street traders, and others who obstruct traffic to desist from such practices.
“We have not yet started arresting offenders, but we have embarked on sensitisation to inform the public that the Edo State Government will no longer tolerate illegal street trading, indiscriminate parking, and passenger pickups that obstruct traffic.”
