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The Cross River State Government has prohibited Vehicle Inspection Officers, VIO, from conducting roadside operations, limiting their activities to office-based duties.
The decision follows protests from commercial transport operators over alleged harassment and steep penalties.
Governor Bassey Otu announced the directive on Saturday in Calabar after meeting with transport stakeholders, according to a statement from his Chief Press Secretary, Linus Obogo.
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The move responds to complaints from commercial bus and tricycle operators, who accused enforcement teams of issuing excessive fines, harassing motorists, and imposing inflated penalties.
Under the new measures, VIO officials will no longer operate on the roads. Their responsibilities will now be restricted to administrative functions, while other transport regulatory bodies are expected to operate strictly within their statutory mandates.
As part of the reforms, the government approved a reduction in daily transport ticket fees from N850 to N500, while penalties for failure to purchase tickets have been lowered to N10,000. Traffic-related fines have also been cut by 50 per cent and must be remitted only into designated government accounts to prevent illegal collections.
For tricycle operators, the daily ticket fee has been reduced from N1,200 to N500. Night operations for tricycles are now prohibited, with operations ending at 6 p.m. daily.
Also, commercial bus and tricycle operators are exempt from ticket purchases on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays, a measure intended to provide financial relief.
Governor Otu stated that the reforms aim to restore order in the state’s transport sector while easing the financial burden on drivers.
He clarified that the Commercial Transport Regulatory Agency, CTRA, will now focus on vehicle registration and approved ticket sales, and that enforcement officers must operate in proper uniforms with verifiable identification.
The Traffic Management and Regulatory Agency, TRAMRA, has also been instructed to limit its role to traffic management functions.
The directives will take effect from March 9, 2026, with the governor urging residents and transport operators to cooperate with relevant authorities.
Despite the announcement, some transport operators have expressed concerns that the reforms do not fully address all enforcement issues. Johnson Ade, a commercial driver, suggested that the government should publish an official list of traffic infractions and corresponding fines to prevent confusion and reduce the risk of impersonation.
“Reducing fines by 50 per cent is too general. Specific amounts for each offence should be clearly defined,” he said.
Mr Sunday Dennis, Metropolitan Chairman of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, said the union would hold an emergency meeting to review the governor’s directives and discuss their implications for operators.
Nigerian Air Force Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke concluded a two-day operational tour of Niger Delta formations on Friday with a courtesy visit to the Niger Delta Development Commission headquarters in Port Harcourt, commending the commission’s infrastructure support to NAF and other security agencies while formally requesting NDDC intervention to provide accommodation for air force personnel serving across five South-South cities.
The visit to Port Harcourt followed a strategic visit to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on March 4, during which Aneke commissioned major infrastructure projects and inaugurated the School of Administration and Management, a new training institution deliberately relocated from Kaduna State to the Niger Delta as a mark of appreciation for NDDC’s contributions to the force’s facilities in the region.
The Bayelsa leg included a courtesy call on Governor Douye Diri, at which Aneke emphasised the importance of sustained civil-military cooperation in safeguarding the Niger Delta, describing his return to Yenagoa as particularly significant given his previous posting there as Air Officer Commanding Mobility Command.
At the NDDC headquarters, Aneke was received by NDDC Governing Board Chairman Chiedu Ebie and Managing Director Dr Samuel Ogbuku alongside a delegation that included Air Vice Marshal E. Onyebashi and Air Vice Marshal M. Ekwueme. Aneke described the commission’s material contributions to NAF operations in specific terms: the provision and installation of solar-powered street lights across communities in the region, the supply of 713 solar inverters enhancing safety and operational efficiency, and the donation of a multi-purpose facility at Kolo-Otuoke in Bayelsa State.
“In that facility, we now have one of the Administrative and Management Schools, the physical education and skills acquisition centre, and a host of other centres which were deliberately relocated from Kaduna State as a mark of appreciation to the commission’s efforts,” he said.
Aneke noted that the NDDC’s foundational mandate of socio-economic development in the Niger Delta aligned directly with the Nigerian Air Force’s operational mandate to provide a secure environment for national growth. He said the School of Administration and Management at Kolo-Otuoke was already open not only to NAF personnel but to Nigerians, foreign nationals, and interested NDDC staff seeking to acquire administrative, management, and skills training. He appealed to the commission’s board to consider rehabilitating and equipping Internally Displaced Persons centres with modern facilities to enable them serve as training hubs, an initiative that would extend the commission’s development model into communities still recovering from years of instability.
Aneke sought NDDC’s intervention in providing accommodation for air force personnel serving in Yenagoa, Port Harcourt, Benin, Asaba, and Warri, a formal request that, if addressed, would represent one of the most direct applications yet of the civil-military cost-sharing model the two institutions have been building since Ogbuku’s appointment.
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Housing for NAF personnel in South-South cities has been a persistent constraint on operational continuity in the region, with posted officers frequently dependent on private rental markets in cities where accommodation costs have risen sharply alongside the oil economy’s recovery.
Ogbuku received the requests and reaffirmed NDDC’s commitment to deepening the partnership.
“Terrorism is like a virus, and if not curtailed, will spread to other parts of the country. But I want to commend the Nigerian Air Force because, since you assumed office, you have risen to the challenges posed by insecurity. What we do here in the Niger Delta is to support you, because there can be no development without peace, and we need this collaboration,” he said. He highlighted the NDDC’s Operation Light Up the Niger Delta initiative, which he said had illuminated communities across the region, reducing criminality and stimulating economic activity in areas where the absence of public lighting had historically provided cover for criminal operations. Ogbuku commended the NAF for maintaining facilities donated by the commission and appreciated the force for allowing NDDC staff to benefit from training at the School of Administration and Management.
