Posted by Anambra State people have expressed regret over the actions of the enforcement branch of the ARTMA, the Anambra Road Traffic Management Agency.
Anambra’s ARTMA is a traffic enforcement organization with legal authority. The organization was primarily created to assist traffic wardens in controlling traffic on the state’s congested highways.
The organization was founded under the name ATMA, Anambra Traffic Management Agency, under the administration of Governor Peter Obi.
They are typically deployed in huge numbers to maintain free flow of traffic, and it has been remarked numerous times that they have been particularly helpful in various areas throughout the holiday season.
However, the organization has been given increased authority since the Prof. Chukwuma Soludo administration took office, including the ability to arrest offenders and seize their cars. Due to the Soludo administration’s push for taxation, they have also become more aggressive, exactly as they do now that they are a part of the government that generates revenue.
As soon as he became governor, Soludo offered an olive branch to the state’s thugs. This was brought on by the level of uncertainty. The idea behind this was to divert criminal activity away from individuals and onto productive endeavors.
Soludo pledged to reabsorb all motor park touts in the state into productive endeavors in addition to criminals, who are known as unidentified gunmen, claiming that there was no room for touting in the state any longer. He ordered that anyone who wanted to be integrated into state government service could register at designated sites and outlawed touts from working in any car parks in the state.
Numerous dishonest individuals entered the agency in this fashion as employees of the Anambra State government. A number of complaints of extortion, intimidation, and improper vehicle impoundment by the agency’s enforcement arm have lately been filed against it.
Although many drivers are renowned for disregarding traffic laws, several drivers have complained of being arbitrarily detained, and some have charged the organization with extortion.
According to Mrs. Eunice Ibe, an Onitsha resident, “What we are seeing in Onitsha in the hands of ARTMA folks is something else. Last week, I was driving when I received a call. I pulled over to answer it, and as I was talking on the phone, a minibus double-crossed my car. About six men got out and entered.
“I was so terrified; before I realized what was happening, they had broken into my car, entered the front and rear seats, and one of them was ordering me to get out while another was standing by my side with a spike to my tire.
“I was just comforted that everything was occurring in broad daylight and that there were lots of people nearby; otherwise, I would have assumed they were armed thieves.
“When I got out of the car, one of them was filming my car on camera. They instructed me to pay N30,000 for incorrect parking in this manner. I asked them to listen to me when I said that I was only taking phone calls, but they refused.
Another Awka resident, Mr. Nonso Oguno, who spoke with DAILY POST about the excesses of the ARTMA personnel, claimed that the operations of the agency’s enforcement arm were a nuisance and that it was past time for the populace to rebel against them.
He claimed that in an effort to rid the state of touts, the governor had hired touts into the agency; nevertheless, the activities of the touts within the agency had grown out of control, making the situation even worse.
“Touts are now taking advantage of every opportunity at their disposal to intimidate and extort the unwary public, especially Awka residents, all in the name of the Traffic Enforcement team,” he claimed, referring to Governor Soludo’s efforts to recreate and reabsorb touts in the State.
“Soludo emphasizes the adage “Soludozie Anambra,” but this is merely hyperbole and disproves the precise goals in the situation, just as the purported agents of Soludozie Anambra are currently doing.
Therefore, it is high time the locals defended themselves against these touts who pose as the Traffic enforcement Team under an official name.
Because they are releasing their intolerable views against the public as a result of drug use and addiction, which is a major factor in carrying out their harmful Traffic Enforcement Acts, they cannot be useful to the government as the governor believes.
Without sugarcoating it, this behavior is no longer acceptable; it is oppressive, particularly in light of the economic difficulties, and it could damage the public’s efforts to build a favorable opinion of the state governor.
The managing director of ARTMA, Mr. Emeka Okonkwo, could not be reached at the time this story was filed, but a statement from the agency’s media section blamed most drivers for the bad traffic in Awka, claiming that they try to take shortcuts.
The organization claimed that they saw such road users every day and accused some drivers of trying to bribe its authorities.
“On a daily basis, we interact with road users who always want to cut corners,” the agency’s letter stated. Because we force them to pay the necessary fines, such road users label us as their enemy. We won’t give up until our beloved country has the appropriate driving direction.
The agency claimed in a news release that road signs were being hung near the well-known Eke Awka Market, which is also notorious for traffic congestion, indicating that motorists’ complaints about the lack of road signs were apparently being taken seriously.
The agency displayed images of its employees raising the road signs and proclaimed, “This is Eke Awka. The route is open, and all commercial vehicles and traders are properly inspected. The installation of more signs has the public pleased.
Despite complaints from some drivers, the managing director of the agency, Okonkwo, has received praise from many for the agency’s innovations, including the addition of unique numbers to each enforcement team member’s vest and phone numbers where the bad apples among them can be reported.
Every traffic infraction, he adds, has a set fine, and violators should insist on paying that punishment in person at their offices with documentation rather than bribing the enforcement team.