By SN24.com 
By Peter Akpah.
The Kogi State Government says it will deploy mobile courts and other enforcement mechanisms on highways across the state to ensure traffic offenders face the consequences of causing gridlocks during the Ember months.
The Special Adviser (SA) to Gov. Ahmed Ododo on Road Safety Matters, Dr. Suberu Yusuf-John, disclosed this on Wednesday during a Critical Stakeholders’ Meeting on Traffic Management, Control and Road Safety Management held at the Glass House, Government House, Lokoja.
Yusuf-John said the government would enforce strict traffic management measures to ensure free flow of traffic and prevent motorists and travellers from being stranded.
He regretted the recent week-long gridlock along the Lokoja-Abuja road and said the state government is coordinating traffic management efforts to ensure that “nobody sleeps on the road” during the festive period.
According to him, the meeting was convened to engage all critical stakeholders, noting that collective effort is required to achieve effective traffic control and road safety.
“I am very happy today that the compliance of the stakeholders is very high, which gives the impression that we are going to succeed in this plan,” he said.
“While this government recognises the need for an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, operators cannot be regulators at the same time.
“It is very important to have an enabling environment for business to thrive, but at the same time, an operator cannot be a regulator.
“Therefore, we are going to ensure that as the state government, we regulate the movement of articulated vehicles by telling them when to move and when not to move, for the safety of the people on the road,” he said.
He added that government will deploy the media to disseminate information on traffic management and road safety, and will set up a joint task force comprising relevant agencies to monitor compliance.
“Please, if you don’t want to do Christmas in the Correctional Home, behave yourself while on the road and obey the rules and regulations while in traffic,” he cautioned.
He stressed that Kogi will not tolerate misconduct on its roads, adding that the administration is acting on the clear directive of Governor Ododo that no person should be stranded on the road.
“We are not just operating on our own; we are operating under the instruction of the governor,” he said.
In his welcome address, the Director-General, Government House, Dr. Shuaibu Umar Oricha, said the Ember months usually come with increased vehicular movement, heightened congestion and crashes, hence the need for proactive planning and inter-agency collaboration.
On his part, the Kogi Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Corps Commander Lawal Lalu-Fagge, said the last quarter of every year remains challenging for FRSC operations due to increased commercial activities, religious celebrations and social events.
He listed measures to curtail the challenges to include early morning deployment of personnel, deployment to identified bottlenecks at Nataco, Banda, Magajiya and Gaba Hills, formation of a joint task force with the Navy, Police, NSCDC, fire service and medical emergency services.
“We equally carry out identification and palliative repairs of black spots, liaison with the Federal Ministry of Works on construction diversions, and public education on lane discipline.
“Other measures include strategic positioning of ambulances and tow trucks, establishment of rescue camps, discouraging night journeys, and enforcing speed limits, with regular mobile courts to check speeding, dangerous overtaking, drunk driving and overloading, ” he said.