The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) on Tuesday described the demise of its erstwhile Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Mr Chris Olakpe, as a big loss to the authority.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Olakpe died in the early hours of Monday at the age of 66.

Reacting on Olakpe’s demise, Mr Olajide Oduyoye, the General Manager, LASTMA, said that the authority was saddened by the death of Olakpe.

“When someone is a nice person and caring, and you lose such person in this world that we are, you feel sad in you.

“I didn’t meet him there at work but I met him about three weeks ago and I know he was a kind-hearted man. From all the stories about him while he was in LASTMA as the CEO, he was a very good man.

“Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it is always the good ones that go (die) first while the bad ones are still left behind. We feel sad that this has happened.

“Really as LASTMA, it is a very big loss to us because once you are in LASTMA, you are part of the family,” Oduyoye said.

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The General Manager, who noted that the demise of former CEO of LASTMA was painful to the authority, said that Olakpe had done his bit for humanity.

“It is the Lord that brings people to the world and it is Him that decides when it is time to go.

“Olakpe has done his own bit, he has run his own race and raised beautiful children that are doing very well and that is the best you can ask for,” the LASTMA boss added.

NAN reports that Olakpe was appointed as the CEO of LASTMA by former Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode in 2015.

He was a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police before he assumed office as the CEO of LASTMA.

He was born on June 5, 1954 and enlisted into the Nigerian Police Force as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent in July 1980. (NAN)