11th June, 2014
Kazeem Ugbodaga
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has recounted how he escaped death by the whiskers some years ago when a few minutes after he left a scene in Lagos, an oil tanker exploded in the area, killing people.
The governor said the incident occurred in 2008 a year after he became governor and lamented the high rate of tanker driver menace in Lagos.
Fashola, who was addressing the leadership of the State branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) at the State House, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on ways of ensuring security and safety in terms of activities of the transporters at the various motor parks and roads in the state, added that that such disasters could happen to anyone irrespective of the social standing of such a person.
The governor said the meeting became necessary because of some developments at the last State Security Council meeting the details of which were provided by the security chiefs at the meeting.
He said while it was the primary responsibility of government to ensure the protection of life and property, government alone could not carry it out, as it required the support of the populace to make the state safe and accident-free for the people to live in.
Fashola stated that the task would only be halfway done if government performed its task of protecting life and property, while the citizens themselves must be up and doing in terms of securing themselves and their immediate environment.
He said that the state had received reports from the security agencies on the way forward and had finished the analysis of the reports which would be shared at the meeting on how to improve themselves and their business operations.
The governor also drew attention to the reckless manner in which operators of articulated vehicles were operating the vehicles, including container carrying trucks, adding that in the process many people had been killed while roads had been shut down without any justifiable reason.
He insisted that the operators of the articulated vehicles could very well do business with human face instead of creating inconveniences on the roads for people who have no business with such vehicles.
The governor reminded them that the containers could not ordinarily fall off the trucks because they usually come with bolts and fasteners which usually hold them in place, adding that the drivers of such trucks needed to be extra careful in their conduct behind the wheels.
Fashola said with regards to the provision of the State Traffic Law which prescribed that the articulated vehicles could only ply the road at specific times of the day, the articulated vehicles still drove recklessly during late hours.
He cited the instances of several street lights that had been damaged by reckless articulated vehicle drivers in the metropolis, forcing the state to redesign the street lights with a view to preventing the damage by the trucks.
The governor urged owners of the trucks to counsel their drivers on the need to show moderation in their driving while the drivers must also talk to themselves on the fact that the brakes that they have put so much trust in to control a vehicle are just mechanical devices.