The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA)’s efforts to eliminate cash collection in regulated public transport are yielding results, as four individuals have been jailed for the offense.

They are Aiyankhe Samuel, Ejikeme Nkendinma, Ajayi Oluwafemi, and Sakiru Ajani, who pleaded guilty to a three-count charge for unauthorized collection of cash from members of the public in LAMATA-regulated buses.

Chief Magistrate F.J. Adefioye, in his ruling in the case of Aiyankhe Samuel, held that there was no justification for “stealing government money meant for the development of all and sundry.”

The magistrate stated that the accused, “along Abule-Egba in Lagos Magisterial district, did steal Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority’s cash amounting to N16,200, property of Lagos State Government, and thereby committed an offence under Section 280(1) & (2) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.

He was sentenced on the three-count charges, with the longest term being five months’ imprisonment.

For Ejikeme Nkendinma, Ajayi Oluwafemi, and Sakiru Ajani, the prosecution said they demanded and collected “unauthorised money from passengers as levy, and at the same time, the defendants, after collecting the money from the passengers, unlawfully converted the money for their own use.”

The trial magistrate wondered “why they engaged themselves in the perpetration of the criminal act which affects not only the innocent victims but also the State, being the pride of the source of internally generated income meant for the development of the state.”

They were sentenced on the three-count charges, with the longest term being five months’ imprisonment.