…How govt, port operators, NPA ineptitude, extortion by enforcement agents, cause falling of containers, accidents
By Steve Agbota
The Lagos State government, enforcement architecture and all the stakeholders, including the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), have been blamed for reoccurrence container accidents killing innocent people in the state.
The truckers who spoke with Sunday Sun alleged that the safety standards for trucks loading containers have been dropped due to government ineptitude and extortion of drivers by enforcement agents who are saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that road users, especially the motorists and truckers, abide by the safety rules.
Asides, other factors responsible for falling off containers are bad roads, driver’s recklessness, hoodlums dragging the steering with drivers on motion and unroadworthy trucks with incomplete hooks, among others.
It would be recalled that a truck carrying a 20ft container fell off a truck onto a passenger bus at Ojuelegba, Lagos and nine people were crushed to death.
Barely 48 hours the incident happened, another truck carrying a container lost brake and killed two people and four others were injured at Ikotun, a Lagos suburb. The injured are two pregnant women and two children.
One spot that has become ill-famed for this type of incident is the popular Ojuelegba overhead bridge, which connects the seaports areas of Apapa to the mainland and linking routes out of Lagos State.
Details of containers falling off trucks conveying them to their various destinations on the Ojuelegba Bridge dated back to September 2015, when one of such incidents occurred and crushed a couple and occupants of a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) to death.
In June 2018, another 40ft container that left the Lagos Port complex, Apapa, fell off its bed while ascending the same Ojuelegba bridge. This time around, the incident claimed the lives of a Toyota Camry driver and three commercial buses. Two other persons sustained life-threatening injuries and were taken to hospital for treatment.
However, Sunday Sun learnt that the average year of the trucks carrying containers in the country is 40 years and above while most of them are bad and unroadworthy.
This was as stakeholders who also spoke to Sunday Sun blamed the Federal Government for its failure to fix bad roads in the country.
They argued that it was not only port access roads that these articulated trucks are passing through that are bad, but also almost all the roads in the country, including the ones in the inner streets. They said that a lot of incidents have happened, without being reported or talked about.
Speaking with Sunday Sun on the menace and the way forward, the National President of COMTUA, Mr Adeyinka Aroyewun, said that the conditions of the roads are responsible for the falling of most of the containers and the accidents.
According to him, the roads are bad, not motor worthy, adding that people are not obeying traffic rules to the extent that hoodlums on the road drag steering with the drivers.
“Vehicles are parked, loading passengers on unauthorized places, this usually causes accidents. We will blame the government for this for not enforcing traffic rules and not ensuring the roads are in good condition,” he said.
He hinted that vehicles are issued road worthy certificates, heavy duty permits and all sort of tests were claimed to have been conducted before issuing these certificates.
In view of this, he said that the government should be blamed for issuing certificates for vehicles that are not road worthy.
“They (government) don’t check anything. Let the Lagos State government come out to tell us the inspection point where heavy duty trucks were inspected before they were issued road worthiness certificates.
“Let them come out and say this, let them come out and say where. They have not been conducting any check, yet they have been collecting money. It has been revenue generation and that is why we are experiencing all of these,” he lamented.
In addition, he said that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the terminal operators are also culpable because they always load the truck that doesn’t have fixed lurk, etc.
“NPA too will collect money from us that they are conducting check on vehicles that the vehicles are port worthy. Whereas, they have been collecting this money doing nothing, extorting us in the last two years. Those are the areas, they have to look into to address the issue of containers falling off from the trucks.
“However, some of our members are also culpable and we are looking in that direction to put certain measures in place so that we fortify whatever government is doing to control the rate of accident,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Administration Secretary, Association of Maritime Truck Owners of Nigeria (AMATO), Mohammed Sani, said that on the issue of falling off containers, all the stakeholders in the industry are culpable.
He said that government is culpable, the truckers are culpable, even the enforcement architecture and also the terminal operators are all culpable for dropping the safety bar.
“Let me start from the government now, for instance, all over the road, you will see area boys forcefully collecting money from drivers, dragging steering with truck drivers. That was a case that happened at trade fair where these hoodlums dragging steering with the driver, the truck lost control and killed three people, including a Police Inspector. Nobody was prosecuted.
“Twice in January, hoodlums on Mile 2, dragged steering with tanker drivers in order to extort them, two tankers fell and three people lost their lives. What measure did Lagos State government take? They did not do anything. All these hoodlums here and there are constituting menace, jeopardising safety of truckers and other road users and pedestrians as well,” he stated.
Secondly, he revealed that the enforcement architecture who are saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that road users particularly the motorists and truckers abide by the safety precaution are not doing their work, but are after money.
“The enforcement architecture are to make sure your container hooks are complete, the headlight is working, the brakes and everything are complete and ensure that your truck has road worthy certificate. But unfortunately, their focus is to collect money on the road, allow the truck to carry load and to come and kill people on the road.
“The same thing with the terminals, they have safety, the same thing with NPA, they have their own safety department, they will allow containers with incomplete hooks access the port to carry load to come and kill people, allow rickety trucks that are not road worthy to access the port to carry load and kill people.
“The truckers too are also culpable. Why are they having this reckless attitude towards safety? Why are they having poor attitude towards truck maintenance? You will see trucks moving with incomplete headlamp, worn-out tyres and so on. Drivers driving without driver’s license, drivers taking alcohol while driving.
“So, I blame all the stakeholders and everybody is culpable. Let everybody sit up. Let all of us be on the same page to overcome this menace because truckers alone cannot handle it. If the enforcement architecture are not calibrated by government, there is no way we can get it right. All these safety loopholes will be compromised. We will keep on having truck accidents on the road,” he explained.
He said that hoodlums would be removing truck’s battery while on motion, remove truck brakes and enforcement architecture will be shattering truck windscreen just because drivers refused to give them money.
According to him, sometimes they would beat the drivers, deflate their tyres and one will see all sort of atrocities on the road.
“Address this issue, all hands must be on desk, let the enforcement architecture play their role, terminal operators should play their role, NPA should play their role and truckers and everybody should play their role, that is when we will have the safety of lives and property on our highways,” he advised.
He said that the government should also look into the issue of hoodlums, calibrate the enforcement architecture, terminals and NPA should also put safety measures in place for the truckers coming into port to load containers.
He noted that FRSC, LASTMA and VIO have started to sensitized truck members on the need to abide by safety precaution measures to prevent the rate at which containers are falling on the road and other accidents on Lagos roads.
Also speaking with Sunday Sun, the spokesperson for the Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN),
Dr Bolaji Akinola, said that at every point in time nationwide, NPA has set up a standard for trucks that must enter the ports.
He encouraged NPA to ensure that it strengthens its safety standards for trucks entering the ports, saying that NPA and FRSC are not working together to tighten the hook to ensure that only roadworthy trucks are allowed to ply the port access roads.