An Update from Lola Talabi Oni, the lady who was harrassed by CBD officials

Read a message from Lola below...

Thanks to everyone who’s called, emailed, or otherwise commented and shown their concern and outrage at my ordeal in the hands of CBD agents. 

I spent the better part of yesterday Tuesday, August 23, at the office of Ms. Derin Disu, the Special Adviser, Central Business District.  I appreciate that she did meet with me, last minute and without an appointment.  I did iterate my ordeal in the hands of CBD agents last week, submitted an official complaints letter, and photocopies of both the complaints letter and all receipts involved were promptly taken by Ms. Disu’s office and signed by her in my presence.  She called in a man referred to as DFA.  I don’t know what DFA stands for but I assume he is an assistant to her in these matters. 

 

After listening to my story, the DFA spoke up to say that the fee tendered to me (N20,000) plus N10,000 for towing was in order, and that in fact it is to the discretion of the CBD agents to charge anywhere between N5,000 and N50,000 for what I presume is any infraction.  This in of itself is an issue.  Essentially any CBD agent can charge you with an unpublished offence and based entirely on his judgment on any given day, decide to give you a fine of anything between N5,000 and N50,000.  This obviously does not promote transparency or accountability.  Lagos citizens should know exactly what constitutes an offence and how much exactly they can expect to pay if they commit a traffic offence.

Be that as it may, Ms. Disu did seem genuinely outraged by the behavior of the CBD agents, called the H.O.D to her office right in my presence, apologize for any and all harassment and embarrassment they might have caused, and promised to thoroughly investigate the matter.  She and the “DFA” took my phone number and promised to update me on matters.  At this point I’m waiting until Friday to hear from either party.  I’m still wondering though, should an issue of assault be treated through this process?

Until then I’m open to any suggestions on how to use this horrible incident to ensure that these public traffic officials are brought to book and made to understand that Lagos residents have a reasonable expectation to be treated with dignity and respect.