Federal Ministry of Works and Housing has called on unions of fuel tanker and truck owners and drivers as well as their counterparts commercial vehicle drivers unions to ensure they shun indiscriminate parking of their vehicles but do so appropriately inside already designated parks along the Lagos- Ibadan Expressway as construction work commences on Ogere and Toll Gate, Ibadan ends of the route in two weeks’ time.
Director, Federal Highways, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (S/West), Engnr. Funsho Adebiyi, made this call during a sensitization exercise embarked upon by the ministry with leaders and members of the unions at separate meetings he had with them at Ibadan end of the expressway and later at Ogere Toll Gate, alongside top-ranking officers of police, the Nigerian Army, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and TRACE.
Adebiyi, who spoke with union men, including Alhaji Rasheed Aremu, Ismaila Adigun, Ganiyu Osuolale, among others, at the Toll Gate, Ibadan, said he had come to appeal to them to cooperate with the construction firm handling the road project as they would commence the construction of section of the road in about two weeks’ time.
The director, who noted that the ongoing construction had reached nearby Guru Mahrajij spot and would soon be extended to the Toll Gate end, said they would do well by moving their park backwards to about 50metres and ensure that none of their vehicles were not parked on the road to ensure smooth operation for the contractors handling the project.
The director said the project, when completed, would be to the benefit of all, pointing out that there was no gain without pain, even as he urged them to bear with the government as the construction lasts.
The director similarly had a stopover at Ogere Toll Gate where he sought the cooperation and understanding of the managers of fuel truck and trailer parks, including Malam Sani, who is in charge of A. A. Rano Park along Lagos- Ibadan Expressway.
This was just as he promised that efforts were being made to ensure better access to entrances of the truck parks numbering about 10 by tarring those entrances.
Earlier, the Director, Federal Highways, Adebiyi, had held an interactive session with head of law enforcement agencies, representatives of Oba Iperu, leaders of NATO, National Union of Road Transport Worker’s Union (NURTW), saying the ongoing Lagos- Ibadan road project had reached to a “discomforting level” and the need for cooperation and understanding of the truck owners drivers to make it a success.
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“The project has been on for a while, the construction has gone to a discomforting level. The truck drivers are not cooperating, they don’t seem to understand. I have to call this meeting because we are facing a lot of challenges,” Adebiyi lamented, urging the leaders “to talk to their men to move their trucks away from the road and not park on the road so that these people (contractors) can do their work.”
Besides, the director also charged them to shun overspeeding as well as ensure they maintain their vehicles, contending that the difference between arrival time of one doing 140kph and another doing just 100kph could not be more than 10minutes.
Responding, Comrade Tijani Ahmed, branch secretary, NURTW, while promising total cooperation of his members, called for more collaboration and enforcement on the part of the enforcement agencies of government as the Union was trying its best to ensure compliance.
According to him, the enforcement on their part should be one that would span the whole day “without rest” as violation always occurred mainly at night time, even as he demanded that government should help rehabilitate entrances to the various parks to allow for easy access by their trucks.
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