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John Adams, Minna
The Niger State government is to enact a law that will prohibit articulated tankers, trailers and trucks carrying more than 35,000 tonnes from plying its highways.
Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, disclosed this when he visited the scene of last Friday’s fuel tanker explosion at Diko Junction in Suleja Local Government Area where six people lost their lives and over 35 shops and 19 vehicles were burnt.
The accident came barely five months after a similar one involving a fuel tanker claimed the lives of 30 people with over 50 houses burnt and property worth hundreds of million destroyed.
Governor Bello explained that a bill would soon be sent to the State Assembly for prompt action halt accidents on high ways, adding that the government can no longer fold its hands and see innocent lives being lost to the “reckless attitudes of tanker drivers.” He said the law, will also stop trailers, trucks and tankers from parking along highways, towns and villages within the state.
The Governor, who visited to commiserate with the latest victims of tanker explosion said defaulters of the new law against the parking of tankers in the state will pay N500,000 as fine or face various jail terms. He lamented the effect that accident caused by petroleum tankers had done to roads in the state.
Bello said the state government will liaise with the tanker owners and drivers as well as other relevant stakeholders to ensure strict compliance with the law when it finally comes into effect.
