THE PORT HARCOURT TANKER EXPLOSION
The relevant authorities must do more to curtail the carnage on the roads
It was another hell on earth for several families last Friday in Rivers State, following the explosion of a fuel-laden tanker at the Eleme section of the East-West Road. According to reports, the tanker collided with another vehicle, exploded, and burst into flames which spread to other tankers and vehicles trapped in the gridlock. No fewer than four persons, including a pregnant woman and about 100 vehicles were consumed by the inferno. While we commiserate with the families of the deceased, the frequency of these accidents should compel action from the relevant authorities.
Although the real cause of the disaster is yet to be officially ascertained, it is being blamed on reckless driving, bad road, absence of traffic control at a critical intersection and negligence by the contractor handling the road reconstruction project. Since Governor Siminalayi Fubara has requested for details from relevant government agencies in the state, we hope he will take the “necessary actions to significantly remedy the situation and reduce the negative impact on the affected people.” But this is a problem that has gone on for years. The number of fatalities arising from petrol tanker explosions on our roads is also getting increasingly high. That is aside from the billions of Naira that had been lost to such fire incidents, and the survivors who bear scars for the rest of their lives.
In January 2019, exactly six months after a tanker truck loaded with petrol fell and spilled its contents on the Otedola Bridge axis on Lagos-Ibadan expressway, and killing several motorists, a similar tragedy occurred in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State. The tanker was heading outside the state capital when it suddenly lost balance towards the Federal Housing Estate along the Odukpani axis of the highway and fell off. A few months later, dozens of villagers were killed in Ahumbe, Benue State when a tanker laden with petrol exploded on the Alliade/ Makurdi Federal Highway in the Gwer East Local Government Area. The tanker driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid a pothole and flipped.
In the wake of these tragedies, there were conversations about the nightmare that fuel tanker drivers have become in our country, but nothing has been done to tackle the menace. In four separate incidents within a spate of one week in 2015, no fewer than 100 people were killed with property worth hundreds of millions of Naira destroyed. Just about a month later in the same Onitsha, 85 fatalities were recorded when a petrol laden tanker lost control and rammed into a public motor park. Several buildings, vehicles and property worth millions of Naira were consumed by the fire. Scores of others were left with different degrees of burns.
For decades, Nigerians have been at the mercy of these drivers who have no regard for traffic rules and regulations and under the cover of a union that goes on strike at the slightest excuse. They have become laws unto themselves. The way they go about terrorising other road users had always left the public wondering whether these drivers were under some instruction to break the rules of civilised conduct. We urge the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the police to collaborate in jointly enforcing traffic rules across the country to stop these avoidable and senseless mayhem.
Besides, in many countries, petroleum products are transported through pipelines and not by putting thousands of vehicles on the road daily as we do in Nigeria. We must find a solution to this carnage on our roads.
