Save our souls in Ikirun

When a mistake happens once, it is considered to be a mistake indeed. When it happens repeatedly, it should then be considered to be a high level of incompetence and unprofessionalism.

Receiving the bad news of the recent incident of brake failure of one of the quarry trucks has left us depressed, sad, aggrieved, and heartbroken.

While we pray that the souls of the affected victims find solace in their Lord and their families get the fortitude to bear the irreplaceable losses, we write to strongly condemn the incessant loss of innocent lives by this company’s trucks whose usual excuse for claiming lives has always been “brake failure.”

We are not oblivious of the fact that the activities and functionalities of the trucks mean a whole lot to the company and as such, the company in one way or the other, contributes to the development of its host community and the state at large. Yet, we must give much cognisance to human life. In everything, safety comes first.

Having critically analysed and observed these unpleasant incidents, we’ve come to conclude that the “truck brake failure” incidents majorly affects people of our community, Ikirun.

Recall that less than six months ago, in 2022, a quarry truck rammed into a maternity where it injured many people. Some days ago, another truck killed some people while others were injured.

While we express our dissatisfaction and grievances over the atrocities this company’s trucks have caused our beloved community, we call on well-meaning people of our community and the state at large to as a matter of urgency see to the end of this sad happening, as the lives and properties of the people are at stake with the continuous repetition of this incident.

We hereby write and plead that you help us relay our plights and concerns to the concerned authorities. Our recommendations to curb this menace are as follows:

1. There should be movement time for these trucks, mostly at nights when loss of life would be minimized. If that seems impossible, then we would be left with no option than to completely ban these trucks from routing within our community.
2. Of course, we know money can never bring back a lost life, yet, we highly recommend that there should be ‘huge’ compensation for any and every victim. This way, we believe the concerned company would take necessary action to ensure their trucks are perfectly fit for the roads.
3. There should be the expansion of roads for the safe passage of these trucks. We believe this would significantly reduce the risk posed to our community.

While we pray that our recommendations would be looked into and be granted in due time.

• Olawale Opeyemi Mutiu, Ikirun, Osun State

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