ROAD TRAFFIC CRASHES: Asagba of Asaba Partly Blames Poor State of Nigerian Roads

The Federal Government has been commended for setting up the Joint National Transport Safety Committee of Nigeria, otherwise known as National Joint Task Force (NATJTF), as part of measures to reduce crashes on the nation’s highways.

The Asagba of Asaba, His Royal Majesty, Prof Epiphany Azinge, SAN, OON, FNIALS, gave the commendation when a delegation of the inter-ministerial Joint Task Force paid him a courtesy visit.

He noted that carnage on the highways had become a common occurrence leading to loss of life and property, adding that internal roads across communities had also been witnessing crashes and in some cases explosions caused by articulated vehicles and petroleum products tankers.

The Asagba noted that the Task Force was well intentioned and its purpose justifiable, and urged the team to go about its assignments diligently so that the society would be better for it.

His Royal Majesty underscored the fact that closely related to crashes was the poor state of the nation’s highways which the Federal Government must address and urgently too.

According to the monarch: “You cannot talk about carnage without talking about our roads. Most of our roads are in a state of disrepair; a good number of them totally dilapidated. And again, I dare say that there is need for a state of emergency on our roads. We cannot pretend that we don’t know about them.

“Just a few weeks back I was at the expressway. I had to go there because the complain was becoming unabated, enduring, as people were finding it difficult to navigate from Asaba to Onitsha because of the total collapse of some portions of the road. What was the option available to the trucks, all the big buses and lorries? To find a detour to Asaba main town and that for us became an issue. Should we build barricades to ward them off or do we allow them, including the tankers, to use the internal roads and possibly fall down somewhere and have the entire community engulfed in fire?

“We resolved to allow wise counsel to prevail. Let us manage so that they can still navigate through. And Immediately after my visit I had to invite the Director of FERMA to come and address us at our Executive Council meeting and he indicated that the state of the road has gone beyond the attention of the agency to the ministerial level. So for us that is a major challenge.

“Now the issue is, how do we predicate your job with respect to the state of our roads? Yes, you still have something to do. When the roads are in poor shape that is even when your job is more needed so that you can regulate the flow of traffic, make sure motorists don’t over speed and of course ensure safety on the highways because there are many things to look out for. The state of mind of the drivers. Have they had enough sleep? Are they on drugs? Many variables we cannot run away from. But that should be your job, the only thing I can do is to clearly highlight some of the fears that we have.

“Having said that, yours is a every very reasonable enterprise and undertaking, but also very challenging. The only thing I can wish is that with the quality and level of expertise that you have certainly we believe that you can do the very best in the circumstance to help to get us out of this menace”.

Speaking earlier, the National Executive Chairman of the Joint Task Force, Mogbojun Taiwo Oluwadamilare, told the Asagba that the team was put together to promote transport safety and ease of doing business with respect to haulage transport operations across the country.

He added that the Task Force was also charged with the responsibilities of advocacy, sensitization and training of drivers on defence driving, transport health and safety compliance.

The National Executive Chairman solicited the support of the Asagba in the areas of advocacy and sensitization towards ensuring the success of the responsibilities.