Speeches

One-Day Stakeholders Forum On Improving Safety In Transportation And Haulage Business In Lagos State

Jan 29, 2009 - I welcome you all to this forum that has been organized to discuss the worrisome issue of the menace of tankers and trailers on Lagos State roads. The importance of this issue cannot be overemphasized, considering the danger it poses to the lives of motorists and other road users in Lagos State.

Our deliberations at this seminar can make the difference between life and death for scores of innocent souls.

Tankers, Trailers, Articulated and other heavy duty vehicles play a very important role in modern or growing economies and we are no exception. They are necessary to convey large quantities of diverse goods and other commodities from one point to the other. Their role assumes a more significant dimension in our situation, where other modes of transportation, especially railways and waterways are grossly underutilized. We therefore, have had to rely on heavy duty tankers and trailers for long distance haulage.

It is inevitable that these vehicles must ply Lagos State roads in large numbers considering the strategic role of the State as the hub and fulcrum of National economic activities. Lagos State is host to Nigeria’s busiest sea and airports, even along the coastline of the ECOWAS sub region and about 60% of Nigeria’s industries necessarily transport goods from Lagos State to different parts of the Country.

Tankers and other articulated vehicles move imported, refined petroleum products from loading bays within the State to diverse locations across the nation. Since, Nigeria accounts for the largest market potential on the African Continent, scores of heavy duty vehicles ply Lagos State roads on a daily basis. The challenge to us is on how to ensure that these heavy duty vehicles carry out their legitimate functions without endangering the lives and properties of innocent Nigerians.

Even though, the Lagos State Government provided an accessible location for the construction of a standard Trailer Park at Orile Iganmu, the sad fact is that tankers, trailers and articulated vehicles still park on the highways and constitute a terror to motorists and other road users. There have been reports of tanker accidents, oil spillages and explosions on our highways destroying lives, property and damaging public infrastructure, as well as polluting the environment.

Articulated vehicles conveying unsecured containers have become one of the most critical sources of danger on our roads. We have recorded one incident too many, of poorly secured containers falling off lorries, maiming and killing innocent people. These are no longer accidents, in our view, they typify mindlessness and irresponsibility and the situation cannot be allowed to continue.

If we do not take decisive action now, we will be failing in our primary duty to protect the lives and property of our people. Legislation alone may not resolve the issue, but a concerted effort at the reorientation and attitudinal disposition of people driving trailers, tankers and articulated vehicles to comply with Road Traffic Rules and Regulation will go a long way.

We should not wait until tragedy on a large scale happens before treating this issue as a matter of national significance. The frequency of incidents of overturned vehicles, exploding petroleum products tankers and trailers on our roads has become frustrating. Because we place the highest premium on every one of the over 18 million lives entrusted to our care we have to do something now, to arrest the menace and I urge all participants and stakeholders not to see this forum as a venue to assign blame or buck-passing; on the contrary, it is a family meeting to task all stakeholders to take responsibility and show leadership by finding a solution that will work.

This is why we have brought together all stakeholders in the industry to brainstorm and collectively find solutions to this recurrent problem. No one person or group can pretend to have all the answers, but by reasoning together and speaking the truth frankly to one another, we can come up with new safety measures and standards that will be binding on everyone concerned.

Let me share with you some of my own reflections on the way forward. Can the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) not set and enforce safety standards for vehicles operating from the Ports? Can the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) not take preemptive action by verifying the safety of tankers at the various depots where they load? Should the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) not insist on standards to be met before registering them to operate within the loading bay? How can the Customs and Immigration Services more effectively prevent the excessive loading that makes trailers prone to accidents?

Moreover, what types of vehicles enter and leave our ports? What is their age and what types of insurance cover do they have? Is it not time to ban the importation of second hand trailers, tankers and articulated vehicles? How can our economy benefit from this challenge? Can’t we begin the local assembly of these trailers and tankers to create job opportunities? When these accidents occur, what is the criminal and civil legal liability issues involved? Should the errant driver flee the scene; abandon the vehicle and that is the end of the matter? Should the movement of tankers and trailers within the metropolis be restricted to certain hours of the day or night? Can we improve the situation through legislation?

These are some of the issues that should exercise our minds at this seminar and to which we should come up with enduring solutions. Let us share experiences and dialogue sincerely with the determination to find a lasting remedy to a serious problem. Let us remember that the victim of the next explosion or accident could be any of us in this hall or our loved ones.

It is therefore in our collective interest to act now. If we have the will, we can put an end to the carnage on our roads and I am optimistic that the technical session will produce a communiqué and a plan of action and timeline for the implementation of recommendations.

I wish you fruitful deliberations in the best interest of Lagos State and Nigeria.

“Eko O Ni Baje!”

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Executive Governor,
Lagos State