By OLASUNKANMI AKONI

IKEJA – Lagos State Government, yesterday, asked the Federal Government to stop issuing vehicle number plates  and drivers’  licences, arguing that only states were  legally empowered to enact laws on motor vehicle administration.

State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, who made the call at the opening ceremony of a three-day conference of Directors/Chief Road Traffic Officers of South-West in Lagos, also urged  Vehicle Inspection Officers, VIOs in the South- West to be alive to their responsibilities and ensure the safety of life and property of motorists.

The deputy governor urged the Federal Government to allow states to take responsibility over obligations they had been constitutionally-empowered to handle to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

She stressed that Vehicle Inspection Officers had to ensure that those driving on the roads were qualified, competent and up to standard.

Former Commissioner for Transpotation in the state, Mr. Muiz Banire, said, while delivering a lecture entitled; “Motor Vehicle Administration under our Law” at the conference which ends today, that since Motor Vehicle Administration was not in the concurrent or exclusive list of the 1999 Constitution, it meant it was not on the residual list.

Affirming the fact that the state was legally empowered to enact laws on Motor Vehicle Administration, Banire urged VIOs to discharge their responsibilities in proper ways which could uplift the image of the region and set standard for other regions.