TRAFFIC WARDENS DEMAND EXCISE FROM POLICE

TRAFFIC wardens have demanded that their services be excised from the mainstream police, with members calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to confer autonomy on the service by removing it from the control of the Nigeria Police.

This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti, on Tuesday, in which they claimed that autonomy of the organisation from the police would bring about enhanced performance, as well as improved welfare for  members.

Traffic wardens attached to the Ekiti State police command, who refer to themselves as “concerned traffic wardens” said they made the call against the backdrop of “wanton neglect caused by the affiliation of the service to the police” which they said had also caused them “untold hardship following oppression by the police.”

In a statement entitled “lamentations  of the traffic wardens,”  they urged the president to state in clear terms, the status of the Traffic Warden Services, in order to put to rest  the raging controversy over whether they were members of the Police or belonged to the Ministry of Works.

They said a statement credited to the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Mr Frank Mba, in which he was quoted to have dismissed the claim that traffic wardens were part of the Police, was unfortunate and had created psychological trauma for members, as it had created the impression that they had only wasted their productive years.

The traffic wardens called for improved welfare through regular promotion, provision of work equipment and kits and alleged that the police had been banking on the nonchallance of the Federal Government to further  intimidate and treat them as slaves.

The statement read: “The traffic wardens services has been established for over 39 years ago under the Nigeria Police Force Decree 21 of 1975 and later incorporated into the Police Act Regulations of 1990.”

The statement added further that, “we are begging  President Goodluck Jonathan  to take action by removing the traffic wardens from the police oppression , so that the traffic problems in Nigeria could be reduced  to the barest minimum.

“With good example, the Civil Defence Corps , Road Safety Corps , State Security Service , NDLEA, NAFDAC, ICPC and EFCC and the likes had been removed from the police for long. Now, they are all performing brilliantly  than the Nigeria police  in the country.”

Source: Tribune