On-federal-governments-ordered-mandatory-certification-of-haulage-vehicles-the-need-to-address-other-issues-as-well
September 7, 2020 | News
ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S ORDERED MANDATORY CERTIFICATION OF HAULAGE VEHICLES – THE NEED TO ADDRESS OTHER ISSUES AS WELL
With recent reports that the Federal Government, worried by the spate of road crashes involving haulage and similar vehicles across the country, has ordered their mandatory certification, and this is to be done twice in a year, while importation of haulage vehicles exceeding 10 years from the date of manufacture would be stopped from 1st January 2020, we however believe that there are other important aspects related to this issue that seriously needs to be considered and addressed as well by the Federal Government if we are going to make any significant head way.
It is imperative for the Federal Government and relevant authorities to also focus on certification and road worthiness of Trucks used by bottling companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc., as well Truck tippers used for carrying and transporting building items like sand, blocks, etc. That of the poor state of Trucks used by bottling companies is more predominant and seriously a source of concern.
The serviceable state of these bottling companies’ trucks raises a lot of concerns as they are always rickety, wobbly, and in a perpetual state of disrepair. More often than not, these trucks (and tankers) possess malfunctioned brakes. It is a common sight to see the drivers’ assistants armed with wooden wedges that are used to jolt these carbon-monoxide emitting trucks to a halt, especially on hilly terrains. This set of road users tend to operate without any form of regulations, supervision and sanctions. Cursory observations also revealed that quite a number of these bottling companies’ trucks do not have rear lights, indicator lights, C-caution signs and even registration plate number. All known traffic and safety regulations are observed in breach than in compliance by the drivers of these trucks. The height of this seeming lunacy and criminal recklessness is exemplified by the manner these truck drivers convey unlatched freight containers with reckless abandon. These containers, usually tilted to one end, do not get properly fastened to the trucks. Cases abound where these containers fall off and send many to painful and untimely deaths. Yet, no one has been prosecuted for criminal negligence and gross dereliction of duty.
These trucks and tanker drivers flaunt larger-than-life character on the road. They bully smaller vehicles for right of way. Some of these drivers are usually heavily inebriated and see other road users as rodents that should cower and take to their heels at the sight of their gigantic trucks. Many of these drivers are not literate enough to understand basic road signs or communicate effectively. Their state of mental well-being is also questionable as they do not undergo psychiatric evaluation to ascertain their state of mental health and alertness given the sensitive nature of their job.
The saddest part in all of this is the fact that officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), and Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs), are very much aware of the existence and movement of these rickety-looking bottling companies’ trucks on Nigerian roads. But more often than not, they turn a complete blind eye to them and the danger they portray on our roads. The stated relevant authorities on our roads are more interested in harassing, extorting and embarrassing private car owners at every chance they get, especially within streets and narrow roads of most urban centers of Delta State, especially in Warri and environs where this situation is very predominant and evident. In fact, it has been alleged that truck and tanker owners/bottling companies usually give what they call “duckets” on a monthly/yearly basis (as bribes) to the VIOs and FRSC top officials for them to turn a blind eye to their road-unworthy trucks/tankers. Whereas, the officials of the VIO and FRSC are seen daily harassing private motorists with good vehicles in and around streets/roods within Warri and environs.
Another important aspect relating to the subject issue, is the fact that most Nigerian major roads are failing and in a state of disrepair. In other words, the Federal Government and the relevant authorities concerned cannot be talking about ‘Certification of haulage Vehicles’ only, when most of our Federal and State roads are failing and in a deplorable state. We cannot be talking of ensuring ‘Safety’ when most our roads are bad. The various State Governments are not doing enough in this regard, and the local government councils are practically doing absolutely nothing concerning our roads. Whereas, the importance of having this basic infrastructure for the development of any society, especially in this modern age, cannot be overemphasized. J. F Kennedy once stated that “America has good roads, not because America is rich, but America is rich because it has good roads.” That depicts the importance of such a basic infrastructure like good network of roads, to the overall development and citizenry enrichment of any nation. But despite the fact that the road system is the most important element in the country’s transportation network, carrying about 95 percent of all the nation’s goods and passengers, sadly, over the years, and even currently, many of the roads are in disrepair because of poor maintenance-culture and years of heavy traffic.
Just recently, the Federal Government was urged to fix all the major dilapidated roads scattered all round the country in a bid to boost the fortunes of the haulage sector. This was the appeal made by Adewale Adetayo, General Manager, SIFAX Haulage & Logistics Limited, who said many potential investors in the business are scared away because of the potential risks their investment will be exposed to as a result of the deplorable conditions of the major highways in the country.
In other words, while it is imperative for the Federal Government and its relevant authorities to address the issue of certification of haulage vehicles, and also ensure that all trucks on our roads are road worthy, it is also imperative that they focus too on the state of our road networks. This is because no matter how good and road worthy these stated trucks and tankers can be, accidents can still happen if the roads are in a bad state. So, the Federal, State and Local Governments should equally focus more attention on our failing road networks and address them.
Another final issue that we all need to consider here is the exhibition of egregious acts of indiscipline on our roads, which should not in other climes qualify to be regarded as a pastime. But here in Nigeria, it has become a national pastime, and proudly so. As noted by Yakubu Mohammed in a recent column, “We, the proud citizens of this great country, take extreme delight in the bizarre display of this god given trait (called indiscipline), and we have no qualms about it. We celebrate and adore indiscipline, almost as if it had replaced the god of our ancestors. Maybe it has. Maybe it has become the god of evil with all its devious characteristics of chaos and its proclivity for enthroning insanity on the highways, which insanity leads, not infrequently, to accidents that claim lives at its daily festival of deaths. Gross indiscipline leads to the violation of what, in civilized communities, people regard as law and order. Here it is called smartness. Have you never noticed the smart way road users outsmart one another by taking one way to avoid gridlock? And in doing so, they cause more chaos in the traffic build-up until road marshals or volunteers’ step in to bring some semblance of order into the utter confusion.”
In explaining further, Mr. Mohammed pinpointed how “this is a small matter compared to the mobile inferno” the truck drivers, as the great god of indiscipline, often set off on Nigerian highways. Referring to the recent unfortunate accident on the Otedola bridge in Lagos, where a fully loaded 33,000 litre fuel tanker was mobilized to the road at the height of Lagos traffic when workers in their hundreds were returning home from work. “The said tanker, antiquated and utterly devoid of any road worthiness, failed to climb the slope of the bridge and began to roll back uncontrollably because its break had failed – and why wouldn’t it fail. Road users, unfortunate enough to be close to it, made frantic efforts to dodge the rolling tanker. Alas, they could not escape the cruel fate decreed by the god of indiscipline. We all moaned and mourned the dead. President Muhammadu Buhari showed sympathy and expressed horror. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was aghast and promised to do what every government does when faced with such horrendous disaster – reel out laws that would prevent this horror from repeating itself. After such rituals and expression of platitudes with the usual outpouring of sympathy for the victims, they all went back home leaving the roads free for these agents of death to bide their time for another day.
“The Otedola bridge carnage was not the first of its kind on the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way. We pray it is the last. Petrol tankers, with or without road worthiness, should not normally compete with other road users considering the havoc they are capable of wreaking on them when they are involved in accidents. But nobody has succeeded from time immemorial to restrict their movements to certain times of the night. Even in the metropolis, trailers have allowed their unhinged containers to tumble down from many bridges in Lagos killing other unfortunate road users including pedestrians and even street hawkers. And yet, they have continued to have their way – their might is their right.
“Underlining their impunity is an unbridled indiscipline which encourages their open defiance of the law. Intoxicated as it were, they have become impervious to reason and to other people’s right to the road as if they have signed a perpetual memorandum of understanding with the law enforcement agents, which understanding allows them to drive as they like, park where the fancy catches them and use whichever truck they lay their hands on irrespective of their road worthiness,” noted Mohammed.
Without a doubt, concerted action is required by Governments at all levels and their relevant agencies to checkmate all the above noted excesses of truck/tanker drivers on our roads while safety regulations should be strictly enforced in order to guarantee the safety of all road users. Attention should also be focused on the state of our road networks. Trucks, including those of bottling companies, that do not meet basic minimum standards of road worthiness should be impounded and discarded while designated areas should be provided for the parking of these trucks. The superfluous enforcement agencies should be streamlined and re-positioned for effective and result-oriented operations. In the area of indiscipline, we all have a role to play to ensure this in our national life and conducts.
Zik Gbemre, JP.
With recent reports that the Federal Government, worried by the spate of road crashes involving haulage and similar vehicles across the country, has ordered their mandatory certification, and this is to be done twice in a year, while importation of haulage vehicles exceeding 10 years from the date of manufacture would be stopped from 1st January 2020, we however believe that there are other important aspects related to this issue that seriously needs to be considered and addressed as well by the Federal Government if we are going to make any significant head way.
It is imperative for the Federal Government and relevant authorities to also focus on certification and road worthiness of Trucks used by bottling companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc., as well Truck tippers used for carrying and transporting building items like sand, blocks, etc. That of the poor state of Trucks used by bottling companies is more predominant and seriously a source of concern.
The serviceable state of these bottling companies’ trucks raises a lot of concerns as they are always rickety, wobbly, and in a perpetual state of disrepair. More often than not, these trucks (and tankers) possess malfunctioned brakes. It is a common sight to see the drivers’ assistants armed with wooden wedges that are used to jolt these carbon-monoxide emitting trucks to a halt, especially on hilly terrains. This set of road users tend to operate without any form of regulations, supervision and sanctions. Cursory observations also revealed that quite a number of these bottling companies’ trucks do not have rear lights, indicator lights, C-caution signs and even registration plate number. All known traffic and safety regulations are observed in breach than in compliance by the drivers of these trucks. The height of this seeming lunacy and criminal recklessness is exemplified by the manner these truck drivers convey unlatched freight containers with reckless abandon. These containers, usually tilted to one end, do not get properly fastened to the trucks. Cases abound where these containers fall off and send many to painful and untimely deaths. Yet, no one has been prosecuted for criminal negligence and gross dereliction of duty.
These trucks and tanker drivers flaunt larger-than-life character on the road. They bully smaller vehicles for right of way. Some of these drivers are usually heavily inebriated and see other road users as rodents that should cower and take to their heels at the sight of their gigantic trucks. Many of these drivers are not literate enough to understand basic road signs or communicate effectively. Their state of mental well-being is also questionable as they do not undergo psychiatric evaluation to ascertain their state of mental health and alertness given the sensitive nature of their job.
The saddest part in all of this is the fact that officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), and Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs), are very much aware of the existence and movement of these rickety-looking bottling companies’ trucks on Nigerian roads. But more often than not, they turn a complete blind eye to them and the danger they portray on our roads. The stated relevant authorities on our roads are more interested in harassing, extorting and embarrassing private car owners at every chance they get, especially within streets and narrow roads of most urban centers of Delta State, especially in Warri and environs where this situation is very predominant and evident. In fact, it has been alleged that truck and tanker owners/bottling companies usually give what they call “duckets” on a monthly/yearly basis (as bribes) to the VIOs and FRSC top officials for them to turn a blind eye to their road-unworthy trucks/tankers. Whereas, the officials of the VIO and FRSC are seen daily harassing private motorists with good vehicles in and around streets/roods within Warri and environs.
Another important aspect relating to the subject issue, is the fact that most Nigerian major roads are failing and in a state of disrepair. In other words, the Federal Government and the relevant authorities concerned cannot be talking about ‘Certification of haulage Vehicles’ only, when most of our Federal and State roads are failing and in a deplorable state. We cannot be talking of ensuring ‘Safety’ when most our roads are bad. The various State Governments are not doing enough in this regard, and the local government councils are practically doing absolutely nothing concerning our roads. Whereas, the importance of having this basic infrastructure for the development of any society, especially in this modern age, cannot be overemphasized. J. F Kennedy once stated that “America has good roads, not because America is rich, but America is rich because it has good roads.” That depicts the importance of such a basic infrastructure like good network of roads, to the overall development and citizenry enrichment of any nation. But despite the fact that the road system is the most important element in the country’s transportation network, carrying about 95 percent of all the nation’s goods and passengers, sadly, over the years, and even currently, many of the roads are in disrepair because of poor maintenance-culture and years of heavy traffic.
Just recently, the Federal Government was urged to fix all the major dilapidated roads scattered all round the country in a bid to boost the fortunes of the haulage sector. This was the appeal made by Adewale Adetayo, General Manager, SIFAX Haulage & Logistics Limited, who said many potential investors in the business are scared away because of the potential risks their investment will be exposed to as a result of the deplorable conditions of the major highways in the country.
In other words, while it is imperative for the Federal Government and its relevant authorities to address the issue of certification of haulage vehicles, and also ensure that all trucks on our roads are road worthy, it is also imperative that they focus too on the state of our road networks. This is because no matter how good and road worthy these stated trucks and tankers can be, accidents can still happen if the roads are in a bad state. So, the Federal, State and Local Governments should equally focus more attention on our failing road networks and address them.
Another final issue that we all need to consider here is the exhibition of egregious acts of indiscipline on our roads, which should not in other climes qualify to be regarded as a pastime. But here in Nigeria, it has become a national pastime, and proudly so. As noted by Yakubu Mohammed in a recent column, “We, the proud citizens of this great country, take extreme delight in the bizarre display of this god given trait (called indiscipline), and we have no qualms about it. We celebrate and adore indiscipline, almost as if it had replaced the god of our ancestors. Maybe it has. Maybe it has become the god of evil with all its devious characteristics of chaos and its proclivity for enthroning insanity on the highways, which insanity leads, not infrequently, to accidents that claim lives at its daily festival of deaths. Gross indiscipline leads to the violation of what, in civilized communities, people regard as law and order. Here it is called smartness. Have you never noticed the smart way road users outsmart one another by taking one way to avoid gridlock? And in doing so, they cause more chaos in the traffic build-up until road marshals or volunteers’ step in to bring some semblance of order into the utter confusion.”
In explaining further, Mr. Mohammed pinpointed how “this is a small matter compared to the mobile inferno” the truck drivers, as the great god of indiscipline, often set off on Nigerian highways. Referring to the recent unfortunate accident on the Otedola bridge in Lagos, where a fully loaded 33,000 litre fuel tanker was mobilized to the road at the height of Lagos traffic when workers in their hundreds were returning home from work. “The said tanker, antiquated and utterly devoid of any road worthiness, failed to climb the slope of the bridge and began to roll back uncontrollably because its break had failed – and why wouldn’t it fail. Road users, unfortunate enough to be close to it, made frantic efforts to dodge the rolling tanker. Alas, they could not escape the cruel fate decreed by the god of indiscipline. We all moaned and mourned the dead. President Muhammadu Buhari showed sympathy and expressed horror. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was aghast and promised to do what every government does when faced with such horrendous disaster – reel out laws that would prevent this horror from repeating itself. After such rituals and expression of platitudes with the usual outpouring of sympathy for the victims, they all went back home leaving the roads free for these agents of death to bide their time for another day.
“The Otedola bridge carnage was not the first of its kind on the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way. We pray it is the last. Petrol tankers, with or without road worthiness, should not normally compete with other road users considering the havoc they are capable of wreaking on them when they are involved in accidents. But nobody has succeeded from time immemorial to restrict their movements to certain times of the night. Even in the metropolis, trailers have allowed their unhinged containers to tumble down from many bridges in Lagos killing other unfortunate road users including pedestrians and even street hawkers. And yet, they have continued to have their way – their might is their right.
“Underlining their impunity is an unbridled indiscipline which encourages their open defiance of the law. Intoxicated as it were, they have become impervious to reason and to other people’s right to the road as if they have signed a perpetual memorandum of understanding with the law enforcement agents, which understanding allows them to drive as they like, park where the fancy catches them and use whichever truck they lay their hands on irrespective of their road worthiness,” noted Mohammed.
Without a doubt, concerted action is required by Governments at all levels and their relevant agencies to checkmate all the above noted excesses of truck/tanker drivers on our roads while safety regulations should be strictly enforced in order to guarantee the safety of all road users. Attention should also be focused on the state of our road networks. Trucks, including those of bottling companies, that do not meet basic minimum standards of road worthiness should be impounded and discarded while designated areas should be provided for the parking of these trucks. The superfluous enforcement agencies should be streamlined and re-positioned for effective and result-oriented operations. In the area of indiscipline, we all have a role to play to ensure this in our national life and conducts.
Zik Gbemre, JP.