The Lagos State government has withdrawn Vehicle Inspection Officers, aka VIO, from Lagos roads.
For two weeks now the most dreaded traffic officials have been missing from major roads in the state.
Encomium.ng reports that they were withdrawn from the roads because of negative news that has been trailing them for the last few weeks.
Two incidents that were said to have led to their withdrawal include the impounded car that caught fire in their premises at Ojodu and a driver that was said to have collided with a trailer while trying to avoid being arrested by the VIOs.
Certainly not a few motorists particularly the commercial drivers within the state will be happy because of their absence from the roads.
But an officer of the agency who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on its behalf said their absence from the roads is temporary.
He claimed that because of the recent negative news about the agency the government ordered their withdrawal and has asked them to be re-orientated through training.
He said presently all the officers are undergoing a training programme. That at the end of the training they will be back on the roads.
When encomium.ng called Mr Fagunwa, the Public Affairs Manager of Ministry of Transportation, the ministry supervising the agency, he told us to send our questionnaire for onward transmission to the Acting Commissioner of Transportation, Prince Elegushi.
We did as instructed but we are yet to receive any response from the commissioner since Friday, May 5, 2017, when we sent the questionnaire.