Nigerians will be very pleased with the news that the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA, has awarded contracts for the provision and fencing of seven pilot Truck Parks at Tafa on Abuja Kaduna Road and Maraban Jos on Kaduna – Zaria Road. Other places where the Truck Parks will be provided include Akiyele in Oyo State, Umuchieze in Abia State. According to the Managing Director of FERMA, each Truck Park will be equipped with conveniences, rest areas, vehicle repair and servicing facilities, filling stations and restaurants that will be of international standards.
Although the Managing Director did not mention when these Parks will be ready, most Nigerians who use our major highways will hope that they will be completed very soon. The danger which trucks pose in these places mentioned are known to everyone, and yet Nigerians have come to live with them, and many have died as a result of them. Many people actually believe that no Government can do anything about the drivers who have turned our highways in Tafa, Maraban Jos and other places into death traps. Many people have died on these dangerous spots simply because; it appears that the petrol tanker drivers in particular choose to park anywhere at anytime, and sometimes in their hundreds. They block highways, leaving barely enough space for one vehicle to pass, and when they park or drive out, everyone must wait while they maneuver their dangerous vehicles around. In many instances, the drivers themselves merely leave these vehicles to young touts to park and maintain, while they retire to their long-term sex workers in these towns. No one dares touch these people, because at the slightest provocation, their unions threaten strike, or they use one or two trucks to block our highways for hours or days.
Because of the brazen lawlessness of these tanker drivers, the towns they have chosen to make their rendezvous have also become high crime areas. Commercial Sex Workers, drug peddlers, thieves and robbers all find hiding places in these places. Security agents, such as the Police rush to be posted to these places, given the high crime activities and huge financial turnovers. Sexually transmitted diseases, child prostitution and all manners of petty crimes have become endemic in these areas. In short, these places where Truck and Petrol tanker drivers do not only offend our safety and security, they also represent major sources of moral and cultural corruption.
It is a great pity that the situation has been allowed to develop to its present state, where it is not even certain that the construction of these Parks will make these drivers stop parking their dangerous vehicles on our roads. Why do we need to wait for years for these Parks to be ready when the Federal government, which owns the Right of way, can enforce regulations on the use of our roads, and in particular, the illegal parking on highway shoulders by trucks, which deprives other road users the use of this important safety facility? Why shouldn’t the Federal Road Safety Commission collaborate with the Police, the National Road Transport owners and workers and the traditional authorities in these towns to force trucks and trailers to park away from highways? Why won’t the government penalize major distributors of petroleum and gas and other products for the action of their drivers? Is it because everyone who can stop this dangerous practice is benefiting from it, and Nigerians die daily because of it?
We should demand, as a matter of priority that these trucks and trailers should stop parking on our highways. There are enough places even in Tafa and Maraban Jos where they can park safely and move out whenever they wish. Any Policemen assigned to these places who lets even one of them to park should be disciplined. Government should enact stronger legislation to punish both the drivers, and the owners of the products in illegally parked vehicles. Government must immediately engage Transport Owners and Workers Unions to agree on the need to clear this expanding danger from our highways.
The important point to note is that even when these Parks are completed, truck drivers who already think they are above the law may refuse to use them. That is why it is important to begin to enforce laws which protect the lives of ordinary citizens, and which Truck Drivers believe have no effect on them.
No comments:
Post a Comment