Fuel tankers’ accidents: LASG set to bare fangs against erring owners, drivers

Following incessant road accidents involving oil tankers and articulated vehicles on Lagos roads, among others, the state government said it is now set to take drastic action against erring owners and drivers of such vehicles, vowing that nobody was above the law of the land.

General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said this while speaking with newsmen in his office in reaction to fatal accidents involving articulated trucks, trucks loaded with fuel that had become a past time on Otedola Bridge along Lagos- Ibadan Expressway.

The recent sad incident, which claimed one life, with a woman trapped and later rescued by LASEMA, happened last Wednesday, and it involved about four vehicles, including a Lagbus, a trailer that carried a container, among others.

Oke-Osanyintolu, while assuring that LASEMA was well prepared for the task set before it under the leadership of Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, attributed the cause of most of the accidents on Lagos roads to brake failure, urging the owners and drivers of vehicles to always do the needful by putting them in good condition before setting them on the various journeys.

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“We would act tough, we would just carry out a lot of enforcement. We would definitely sue some drivers. We would definitely allow the law to take its course,” LASEMA boss vowed, even as he admitted that emergency was the business of everyone in the state.

“But you know our government is a government of the people by the people and for the people. We need to carry out awareness, advocacy, sensitisation before we now start talking about enforcement that enough is enough. The ultimatum is there.

“We will commence serious enforcement, we would talk tough and we would act tough. We will not spare anybody because the safety of lives and properties is paramount to this administration led by His Excellency, Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu,” Oke-Osanyintolu added.

Speaking further, LASEMA boss commended Governor Sanwo-Olu’s initiative on roads, on which he had since declared an emergency by “investing so much on the maintenance of infrastructure, especially roads in Lagos state”.

“In as much as the state is doing their bit, we are appealing to the citizens of the state to do the needful to ensure that they do not build their structures in such a way that will impend the free flow of water because if there is poor drainage system, it is going to create a bad situation that would affect our roads, so we are appealing to the citizens of the state to do the needful,” Oke-Osanyintolu said.