Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), has expressed concern about crashes involving tankers conveying petroleum products on the highways and advised road users to drive with caution.
Oyeyemi gave the advice at the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) Department 2020 Workshop for Sector Heads of Drivers’ Licence Centres on Friday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that no less than 23 persons, including seven school children, died in the fuel tanker fire which occurred in Felele, Lokoja in the early hours of Wednesday.
NAN also reports that no fewer than 30 people were injured in a gas explosion that occurred at Iju-Ishaga, Lagos State on Thursday.
It was learnt that 15 vehicles and 23 buildings were destroyed.
Oyeyemi said that the frequent tanker explosions on the highways had called for concern, saying that the corps would embark more on enforcement during the ember months to curb the menace.
According to him, enforcement will be our major focus in the end of the year operations; the tanker explosion at Felele, Lokoja and Iju Ishaga, Lagos were sad incidents that we would not want to experience again.
“We have had a lot of cases involving tanker drivers recently. Just yesterday, we heard about the Iju-Ishaga explosion with a lot of properties damaged.
“This has given us a lot of concern in the past two days and I must say that we will ensure such does not reccur.
“We will retrain all the articulated vehicle drivers to avoid tanker explosion,” he said.
Oyeyemi called for more efforts in the ember months to restore sanity on the nation’s roads, urging that the end of the year operatives should not relent.
He said that road safety was no accident, however, concerted efforts made by road users to obey traffic rules and regulations and guide against what could be prevented.
Also, Oyeyemi said that it was the resolve of the management of FRSC that un-licenced drivers be kept off the highways in the course of the ongoing end of the year operations.
He said that it was the duty of the corps to ensure that drivers licence applicants passed through the correct procedure of driving school training and certification.
NAN reports that the year 2020 theme of the workshop is “Curbing Corruption in the Drivers Licence Production Chain’’.
