Motorists, residents decry bad roads, high incidence of tanker accidents in Lagos

Commutters and motorists travel with fears in Lagos State over high incidence of tanker accidents on major highways within the metropolis.

A couple of such accidents happened last week which claimed lives and caused injuries to many. Tankers, cars and buses were destroyed in the incidents.

For most residents and motorists who shared their experiences with Saturday Tribune, the fear of fuel tanker accidents on the major highways in the state is the beginning of wisdom.

The first accident involved an 18-passenger commercial bus that rammed into a truck from behind at the Gbagada area. Two adult males and one female died in the accident, while seven other passengers were seriously injured. It was learnt that the fully loaded bus was heading to Ajah from Oshodi when the driver lost control.

The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, said three of the injured seven were promptly administered with pre-hospital care and ferried to Gbagada General Hospital for further treatment by the agency’s paramedics.

The second accident involved a 33,000-liter-diesel-laden tanker and a 24-seater company bus. The tanker, which lost control on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, trapped the bus outward Lagos near a popular petrol station. The three occupants of the bus were safely evacuated.

The accident later resulted in a traffic jam on the expressway as some individuals got busy scooping diesel dripping from the tanker. The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service later mitigated the spillage from the tanker.

Also, two persons sustained serious injuries last Tuesday as a petrol-laden tanker fell around Teslim Balogun/National Stadium in Surulere. The injured included a woman and motorcycle rider. The motorcycle rider was admitted at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba.

Another accident occurred in the Iganmu area as involving three tankers, a mini-bus (korope) and tricycle. Two of the tankers were loaded with fuel.

It was gathered that the driver of one of the trucks, which took off from Apapa and was heading to Ikeja for the discharge of its content, lost control after he suddenly applied the brakes and cause the vehicle to fall, trapping a nearby car with three occupants.

Giving details of the incident, the Zonal Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, said: “There was a crash off the bridge which led to a build-up of traffic. When the ConOil truck which took off from Apapa heading to discharge at Ikeja tried to apply its brakes, the driver lost control of the vehicle and fell, trapping the car with three occupants but they were rescued alive.”

Residents, commuters, drivers lament

A motorist, Mr John Alabi, said a journey home from Yaba to Arepo in Ogun State took him four hours due to a tanker accident around Otedola Bridge.

He explained how other motorists made a U-turn to renegotiate their way through Maryland to Ikeja, Ogba and Ojodu in order to connect Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

A resident at Ogudu GRA, Mrs Yewande Eniola, said her fear bordered on the fact that incessant truck accidents on Lagos highways would send wrong signals to investors that the city is not safe or livable.

She called on the state government to regulate the movement of tankers within the metropolis.

She narrated how she spent hours she could have used for productive ventures in a gridlock caused by tanker accident in Surulere last Thursday.

For a commercial bus driver at Ijora Under Bridge, Morufu Sekoni, heavy-duty truckers and street urchins are responsible for the potholes and gullies on the roads in the axis. The pothole-ridden stretch of road, according to him, has turned to a nightmare for commercial and private car owners.

Speaking to Saturday Tribune, Sekoni said the portion of the road had turned to a breeding ground for hoodlums and urchins who prey on and dispossess motorists of their valuables while stuck in the potholes-induced traffic jam.

He said: “Road users have lived with the poor road for almost two decades. This has affected the economies and quality of lives of residents in Ijora and its environs. The state government has invested a huge amount of taxpayers’ money in carrying out repair works on the road but the situation remains unabated.

“Perhaps that is the cause of the neglect the road is suffering now. Apart from the terrible gridlock road users are subjected to on a daily basis, hoodlums loiter around the area looking for motorists to rob. Many of the accidents involving trucks and containers on that road are caused by gullies and potholes.

“On many occasions, my passengers and I had fallen victim to traffic robbery, no thanks to bad the state of the road. I am appealing to the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to repair the road and save road users from stress-induced death.”

Another car owner, Adeleke Oseni, blamed lack of periodic maintenance of the road and non-regulation of the movement of heavy-duty and containerised trucks for the gullies on roads across the state.

According to him, the State Public Works Corporation needs to do more in the area of timely intervention and palliative works on roads.

He said: “Poor quality of materials are also responsible for the potholes on our road and if only our leaders are considering the effect of the bad state of these important amenities on our economy and health, they won’t hesitate to commit much resources to the maintenance and repair of the roads.

“It is not only on this route, gullies and potholes are visible on almost all the roads across the state and that is why you see containers and fuel-laden trucks falling off the road, wreaking havoc and causing avoidable deaths. In fact, on the Mushin-Ikotun Road, there is a spot, precisely at Oja Bus Stop, it is a disaster waiting to happen.

“Flood has swept off the earth, leaving only asphalt on the surface of the road. Residents are wise enough to barricade the road to lessen the pressure on the road, but then that is not enough to avert the disaster that is waiting to happen.

“If the roads are good, there will be smooth ride and the roads will be free of traffic jam and, by extension, traffic robbery will be a thing of the past.”

Truck drivers, owners’ views

For some trailer groups in Lagos, the incessant accidents on the highways are due to bad states of the roads and the maintenance culture of some trucks.

President of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi, explained to Saturday Tribune that many of the roads were in dire shape and needed rehabilitation.

The AMATO chairman, said: “Many of our roads are in dire shape with large potholes everywhere. Due to the latches and hooks, some of the trucks are already looking worn out. When some of these trucks run into these potholes, the container falls off the truck, leading to incessant casualties on the roads. Government can help to improve the state of the roads to reduce these issues.”

When asked why truckers allow the latches and hooks on their flatbed to get weak and worn out before the owners change them, the AMATO chieftain explained that truckers are over-taxed daily, leaving them with almost nothing to take home.

“Our members suffer undue extortion every day on Lagos roads. All manners of security agencies and even hoodlums extort our members daily, leaving us with almost nothing to take home.

“How do we ensure adequate maintenance of our trucks when all the money made daily goes into the hands of some hoodlums backed by security officials?

“It is difficult to keep the trucks in good shape because the money we make are collected from us by hoodlums who even attack our drivers and injure them if they refuse to part with money at these illegal checkpoints stationed at different junctions on roads in Lagos.

“Some of us still go out of our way to ensure we do maintenance of our trucks, but not everybody can cope with the high level of extortion. So, when you see some trucks moving around with their latches and hooks worn out or not firm, don’t entirely blame them. It’s not entirely their fault that they cannot maintain their trucks. The level of extortion is huge because the actors involved in it are backed by security agencies or government agencies,” Ogungbemi lamented.

368 tanker/truck accidents in 2022

No fewer than 368 tanker/truck accidents were recorded in Lagos State in 2022.

According to a data analysis from the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), out of 1,259 emergency calls received concerning tanker, trailer and vehicle disasters in the period, 368 incidents involved truck/tanker accidents, 536 vehicle accidents and 46 trailer accidents.

On fire disasters, the data shows that out of 175 emergency calls received, 144 fire outbreaks occurred, while fire incidents involving trucks were 11 and vehicles, 20.

Permanent Secretary, LASEMA, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said: “In the last four years, the collated data had revealed that LASEMA attended to 1,029 incidents in 2019; 1,043 incidents in 2020; 1,743 incidents in 2021; and 1,682 incidents in 2022.

In 2022, he stated, out of the 1,682 incidents LASEMA attended to in the first half of the year, 165 incidents occurred in January; 155 incidents in February; 148 incidents in March; 107 incidents in April; 160 incidents in May; and 112 incidents in June.

He added that in the second half of 2022, the agency responded to 126 incidents in July; 140 in August; 148 incidents in September; 141 in October; 124 in November; and 156 incidents in December.

“Final data for 2022 revealed that the highest number of incidents in a month was recorded in January 2022 with 165 incidents, while the least number of incidents occurred in April 2022 when data recorded 107 incidents.

“On the part of the 20 local government areas (LGAs), data revealed that Alimosho recorded the highest with response to 239 incidents in 12 months, while Ikeja recorded the second highest with 200 incidents and Oshodi/Isolo LG recording the third highest number with 165 incidents in 2022,” he said.

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