NEWS FLASH: Atilo Atide, We’re back on Lagos roads, VIS tells motorists

The Vehicle Inspection Service in Lagos State says its officers are back on Lagos roads to carry out its statutory life-saving mandate through enforcement of motor vehicles’ roadworthiness.

The Director of VIS, Mr Akin-George Fashola, spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Thursday.

He said residents of the state, especially road users, thought the Vehicle Inspection Officers were off the roads.

Former Lagos Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, had banned the VIOs from operating on the roads over reported excesses.

But Fashola said, “Since the advent of this administration, citizens still believe that VIS or VIOs are still off the roads.

Related: These Are The Duties and Functions of LASTMA, VIO and FRSC Officers

“As a matter of fact, we are back on the roads to do the needful. We have embraced a lot of new practices and procedures. We have embraced technology and that still needs the presence of VIOs on our roads in Lagos where technology is limited.

“The presence of VIOs is required, so we are on the road. A lot of people still believe that we are still under the previous ban from the road.’’

According to him, the period of the ban was for the vehicle inspectors to strategise and return with fresh ideas and ways of performing their duties.

He said for the entire period the VIS was off the road, most drivers and vehicle owners became careless about roadworthiness, particulars and conditions of their vehicles.

“Some of the citizens are having difficulties with us being on the road now and we are also having difficulties with them because they don’t want to believe that we are back on roads,’’ the VIO boss said.

Fashola said only 50 per cent of vehicles in the state were roadworthy.

LASG Releases Hotlines To Report Harassment By VIS Officers

The Lagos State Government is definitely not joking when the governor says that every sector is mandated to deliver world-class service to Lagosians.

First, it was LASTMA then followed by RRS and now the baton has moved to VIS. The VIS is the Vehicle Inspection Service, they are responsible for roadworthiness, inspect, control regulate and check of motor vehicles particulars in the state.

Many of these officers have been reported for harassment and extortion particularly insisting on giving them some fees before releasing the drivers.

The Lagos State Government with the Vehicle Inspection Service has released some hotlines to report any case of harassment and extortion by VIS Officers by calling the following numbers below.

There Are 282 Cameras Monitoring Vehicles In Lagos Metropolis - VIS Head Of Planning And Research

Sequel to the story we did earlier in the ANPR camera in Lagos, the VIS head of planning and research has this to say on the VIS cameras in Lagos.

Contrary to the stories making the rounds that a camera device located at Alausa Secretariat capturing vehicles with expired fake documents and sending bills to people SMS, an official of Vehicle Institution Service VIS, Lagos State, Engr Olayemi disclosed that there are 282 of such mechanical device installed in many major roads within the metropolis and not in Alausa, Secretariat, Ikeja, alone.

He said the device is called Automatic Number Plate Recognition Device (ANPR) or Number Plate Detector for short.

According to the Head of Planning and Research of VIS, the device only captures the vehicle's number plate and send it to Motor Vehicle License data bank, Insurance Company data bank and Road Worthiness data bank, from where it detects if these documents are genuine or have expired.

When these documents have expired or are fake the device generates a bill and send it to the vehicle's owner phone through SMS.

He said for every infringement committed a bill of N20,000 is generated. A person who defaults in all the three documents will get a bill of N60,000.00.

He went further to say that the device which he is personally monitoring from his own office has captured 276, 284 vehicles number plate out of which 7,135 owners have been billed fines ranging from N20,000 to N60,000, since December 2018, when they commenced full fledge operation.

He confirmed that many prominent Lagosians including commissioners, lawmakers and senior state government officials have been booked and have quietly paid their bills.

A vehicle owner who refused to pay the fine within seven days stipulated in the SMS sent to his phone will have his vehicle blacklisted. Meaning the vehicle will be declared wanted. Wherever such a vehicle is caught by the device again, officials of VIS in such area will be instructed to impound the vehicle.

He agreed that VIO is back on the road not to check particulars but to arrest rickety vehicles or those with overload which the new device cannot capture.

See samples of the bill they sent to drivers