As Abia State is fast experiencing infrastructural development through Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration, economic activities in the state have come on full scale, thereby resulting in increased traffic on the roads. This has invariably given birth to Traffic and Indiscipline Management Agency of Abia State (TIMAAS); an Agency charged with ensuring free flow of vehicles at every point. IKECHI ENWEREJI, Editor-in-Chief of PEOPLE AND POWER magazine, in this interview, takes on the General Manager, TIMAAS, Commander Bright Chinedu Ikeokwu on some sundry issues of concern. Excerpts:
One of the responsibilities of TIMAAS in Abia State is to control traffic and enforce discipline on the roads. How far has your Agency gone in this area?
The Traffic and Indiscipline Management Agency of Abia State (TIMAAS) was created by law in 2010 and the law amended in 2015. Let me summarise by saying that the functions of TIMAAS, is to deter traffic offenders but I am going to say the job of TIMAAS is to eradicate traffic and indiscipline on our roads in Abia.
Like we have fractional distillation – when you have ink in a glass of water, the best way to separate that ink from the water is to keep pouring water and the ink will float and go. The impunity here is the number of nuisance we have in Abia starting from Aba which is more like our Jerusalem before you move to Judea which is Umuahia and the rest of them.
So literarily speaking, we are here in form of enforcement to make sure we eradicate the traffic menace in Abia.
The public perceives TIMAAS as revenue generating rather than an enforcement agency; which of the two comes first?
If you are seeing TIMAAS as a revenue making agency, you might not be wrong but the assumption is not entirely correct. The first major role of TIMAAS is to control traffic. What I do believe is that, Governor Ikpeazu was working by faith when he brought in TIMAAS. When TIMAAS came on board in 2015, there were not many roads in Aba, but I think the governor knew that a day will come when TIMAAS will be employing more hands to control traffic because we have left the Jerusalem part of it. We have also moved to Judea and somehow we are in Samaria. Like the governor said the other day that he is going to Port Harcourt Road, so that is the uttermost part of the earth. So, the number of personnel is increasing day by day.
If you talk about enforcement, lovely we are, because we are in a very turbulent place when it has to do with indiscipline. Abia is a very turbulent place, Aba to be precise. When you talk about TIMAAS as a revenue agency, the answer is no. Why do I say no? The salaries of TIMAAS officers are not dependent on the number of vehicles, tricycles or offenders they bring to the office. But we are looking at a graph that will come as low as possible where a day will come we will say we did not impound any vehicle, which means every other person on the road would be driving like a human being.
Sometimes we even leave the revenue and talk about cautioning. The law that created the Agency, in Section 72 of it, is very explicit about driving against traffic which literarily you will call one way. It says, if you are found driving against traffic or not observing traffic light, you shall have your motor vehicle impounded. Secondly, the driver would be referred to a government approved psychiatric hospital for mental examination. It is only when the person is found sick that he is meant to pay a fine. So, I do not see TIMAAS as a revenue making agency but I see TIMAAS as an agency that is working in line with the governor’s mandate to make sure the state is eradicated of every form of traffic menace and indiscipline on our roads. That is what we are saying. If it is the revenue graph, yes, it would be as long as the offenders remain stupid.
Oftentimes, there are peak periods of higher number of vehicles on the road; when workers of all levels close for a day’s work and it is expected that there will be traffic congestions on the road. But a look at the checkpoints often shows that TIMAAS officers are not there to control traffic, why?
What is your definition of peak period? I just finished having a meeting with my officers now. The traffic job commences by 6:30am and they close by 8:00pm. They close by 8pm because of the EndSARS saga. If you take a closer look at this office, we are trying to start all over again. This office was burnt down, looted and every other thing courtesy of those who said they did not understand what is EndSARS and they decided to EndTIMAAS as EndSARS.
When you talk about peak period, the Agency is meant to work in collaboration with other security agencies because we are not armed. So, that is why you see our officers close by 8pm. Let me tell you this, there are no traffic in Aba and Abia as a whole. What we have is pockets of individuals that are inpatient and rascally on the wheels. There are no traffics. If you go to Lagos State somebody will close from work, he will not go and he will stand by waiting for when the road will clear before he goes home.
Is there any conflict of responsibilities on the road between TIMAAS and other federal security agencies in the state?
We work 100 percent in collaboration with each other; we are in order with them. TIMAAS was trained by Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Udi and that was how our officers metamorphosed from ordinary personnel to traffic officers. We all passed through that training, like gold, we passed through the fiery furnace. This time around, members of the public are appreciating them for good work done. Our officers are very responsible people, like Police would always say, go and take a look at what TIMAAS is doing.
There was this group that they used to call Yellow Fever that is the Traffic Police; you rarely see them again.
But I saw them on my way to your office at Bata junction.
That is the only place you can see them. But if you check very well, you will see that TIMAAS is everywhere in Abia. We are doing both traffic control, enforcement and we are also looking at indiscipline. Indiscipline in the sense that TIMAAS sometime ago; launched a programme called “Operation Study the Manual”. What was that operation aimed at? The Bible says, “Study to show yourself approved; a workman that needed not to be ashamed, but rightly dividing the word of truth.” TIMAAS was just saying, there is a new product, courtesy of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, please study the manual of this product.
In the time past, this Ehere you are looking at, there used to be more of plantain orchard on the road and then people were using the road for market; nobody was angry with that. But we shall not continue in sin that grace may abound. You cannot pour a new wine in an old wine skin, it is not done anywhere. Sometime ago, Pastor Echefu was a mechanic garage; so that’s basically the work of TIMAAS, we are doing a lot of work. Those who know the difference between good and evil has been appreciating us; unless those that are not reasonable and we are not offended either.
Talking about indiscipline, one observes that there is so much street trading in Aba in particular. Many traders leave their shops and display their goods on the road, thereby obstructing traffic. What are you doing to curb these excesses?
Now, I like making references to the Bible, because I am an Apostle of the Gospel. The oil flows from Aaron’s head to the beards before it gets to the skirt. What it actually means is chains of command. There is a ministry in charge of trade that we are also working in tandem with. We have also noticed that most of the people you see will say that we have also paid to the ministry which I know is not true. Like I said, Abia is a very turbulent state, very turbulent. Let me use Opobo Junction as an instance, if we go there now, you can drive with me, mere packing there everybody will run away but the moment I leave there they will resurface. The moment our people close for work they will come out again to block the roads with their goods. So we have written to the Governor in collaboration with Abia State Public Utilities Management Agency (APUMA) about it. Once we claim any area, APUMA will go in with beautification; at least that one will send a signal to you that this is no go area for whatever actions we want to do.
We have also had a meeting with the leadership of the markets starting with Ariaria International Market. They brought four of their leaders here and very soon we are inaugurating a group; courtesy of Chief Emeka Igara who is the Chairman of Ariaria International Market and the other guys are from FOAMS, TILES and the rest of them. We started entering into the market with the aid of these market leaders because those ones know about the terrain and the people there respect them. So we do not want a situation where we would go there and they will say there is a conflict between ndi TIMAAS and ndi Ahia, no. So we decided to go from the head to the bears before it gets to the skirt.
So be patient with us, it is precepts upon precepts; line upon line, a little here and a little there. The good thing is this, TIMAAS is not where it supposed to be but they are not where they used to be. I can say that again and again. I like making reference of this terrain called Ogbor-Hill because I understand that you the publisher is from this area.
In the time past, this waterside you are seeing, there was a thorough fare to Umuoba Road and because of that thorough fare you keep seeing accidents; the people keep saying it was a marine spirit but we came and blocked that place and that was the end of the so called marine spirit. We have done a lot of work both physical and spiritual by reducing the number of deaths from the Marine Kingdom. Anyi agbalia la, ndewo Dede (We have tried, my brother).
How often do you train your officers to keep them abreast of latest development and happenings in the state?
God Himself is unambiguous when the Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. That continuous hearing shows emphasis. We just finished a re-training of our officers this January and we also recruited some few officers. We do a quarterly training and we work in synergy with other sister agencies and we also go for other relevant trainings and the resource materials are here to show for it. We have done trainings and more with FRSC, Police and the military, so we are doing well.
Our officers are like any other human beings; if Jesus can have Judas why would we not have one too. What we are doing is that we keep pouring in water until we get to our Eldorado, which is our paradise.
https://any.peopleandpowermag.com/governor-ikpeazu-created-timaas-by-fatih-says-ikeokwu/
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