Too many hazards of heavy duty truck drivers at Lekki Port Corridor
Too many hazards of heavy duty truck drivers at Lekki Port Corridor
…innocent lives list daily
Segun Oladipupo
Findings have revealed that the Lekki Port corridor has been recording daily loss of lives due to alleged reckless driving of tanker, tipper and container truck drivers in the last two months.
The worrisome situation which has drawn the attention of stakeholders, port operators and concerned individuals is yet to receive attention from the relevant government agencies to tackle the anomaly.
Findings also confirmed that motorcycle riders, mini bus drivers (Korope), Tricycle operators among others fall victims of the dastardly act allegedly caused by heavy duty vehicle drivers.
Stakeholders who spoke on the development on l Monday roundly condemned the attitude of the drivers even as they called on the relevant authorities to swing into action by deploying road marshals to monitor and regulate movement of all manner of vehicles along the corridor.
It was also gathered that already, Messrs Dangote Refineries, LFT, NUPENG and management of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) have been in talks to addressing the ugly trend.
However, the incessant road accident has continued to waste lives of innocent people overtime.
A policeman was quoted saying he had submitted his letter of transfer from the axis because he was tired of packing human flesh with his hands on the road, everyday.
Our sources also lamented that some the drivers are not trained whilst others decried the chaotic situation by the Lagos Calabar coastal road construction.
In addition, the tippers, tankers and other commercial drivers have constituted nuisance without adequate safety apparatus on the Lekki port corridor.
Primarily, the drivers, it was gathered allegedly scoop and sell petroleum products along the corridor beside road side vendors cooking with naked fires without considering the inherent danger.
A cross section of dockworkers at the port also expressed fear over the incessant accident resulting to death along the port corridor.
A union top executive who craved anonymity, lamented that the recklessness on the part of drivers have been alarming, noting that high number of casualties are commonly recorded with tricycle operators, mini bus commercial drivers alongside passengers .
He expressed disappointment over the negligence on the part of the Dangote Group and terminal operators to assist management of NPA traffic unit to control the hazards effectively.
Drivers who also spoke, lamented that the situation has made many of the transporters to abandon the business due to fear of being killed by reckless heavy duty vehicles.
A mini bus driver, Lekan Ibrahim told our correspondent that on daily basis, accident cases are reported, adding that most of the tragic incidents are caused by the tipper, tanker and container drivers especially at night. .
He called on the government to deploy more road marshals for effective traffic management on the road at night.
When contacted, Lekki Port Manager, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Comrade Emmanuel Anda said the accidents had been constant on the access road linking the port stressing how he narrowly escaped death through a reckless tipper driver on Friday
Anda raised the alarm that operational activities during weekend is always chaotic, saying that the road is a no go area considering the recklessness of the drivers.
He further alleged that some drivers expose some of the liquid content right in front of food vendors with naked fire noting the issue would snowball into something catastrophic if not tamed.
According to him, trucks vehemently flout traffic rules noting that they are bent on parking indiscriminately along the corridor while waiting to enter the terminal.
The Port Manager noted fewer government agencies are deployed to Lekki port corridor , while calling on both state and federal government agencies to deploy personnel to that axis.
