3 July 2008
editorial
Tafa, a town on the Kaduna/Abuja expressway in Niger State has become the motorists nightmare. Hardly does a week pass without the occurrence of one or more accidents.
Evidence of these accidents are the smashed and mangled carcasses of vehicles packed on top of each other at the frontage of the Police Station in the town. The accidents have claimed the high and low. One recent casualty was the 81 year old Alhaji Ladan Baki Wazirin Ayuukan Katsina, a minister in the First Republic who lost his life along with his wife, son and driver. He was on his way to see his physician in Abuja. According to an account the vehicle they were travelling in ran into a trailer which veered into the road without any thought about approaching vehicles. Other notable people have lost lives at the same sport in similar manner.
A major reason for the frequency of accidents in Tafa is the long lines of trailers that pack on both sides of the two highways that pass through the town. The trailers are packed in such disorderly manner that they effectively block the way, thereby turning a thoroughfare meant for easy access into a cul-de-sac. When this happens, a long-line of bumper to boot snarl-up of vehicles ensues creating needless delays for motorists going up and down the country. At other less happy times, unsuspecting motorists not aware of the dangers these trailers constitute, ram into them in the haste to pass through resulting into mangled and twisted bodies and of course death. These trailers have also caused the death of many residents of Tafa who, dash blindly into the road only to be crushed by on-coming vehicles.
It is expected that every new road user should know that double parking is an offence that could cause accidents, much more so these long distance haulage drivers who are expected to be vastly experienced in the business. More baffling however is that the Suleija Local Government and the Federal road Safety Corps (FRSC) under whose noses these accidents occur have done nothing to put a stop to the unnecessary waste of human souls. To stop the accidents the local government could have created a parking space for these trailers far removed from town, and off the highway. It can then charge them for it and earn for itself handsome revenue. The FRSC on its part, so far has, as it were, turned a blind eye and shrugged off the horrid occurrences of death in Tafa as if they don't matter. Yet on this same road innocent bus drivers are harried into paying for offences they did not commit.
Certainly, it is about time the FRSC, the Suleija local government and indeed the Niger State government woke up to their responsibilities. It is their duty to ensure motorists and other travelers passing through Niger state arrive their destinations hale and hearty and also in one piece. The owners/drivers of these death dealing trailers should be made to relocate to another location to free the highway for motorists. It needs be noted that similar situations like the one in Tafa exist in several other locations across the nation. Mararaba Jos, Birnin Gwari, Jebba, Kotongora as well as Ojo in Ibadan and Sagamu are a few places where trailers constitute dangers to unsuspecting wayfarers.
In all these places, appropriate measures should be taken to remove these haulage trucks, which have become a law on to themselves thereby endangering the lives of the citizens going about their business. When and if they resist, as they are wont to do, the appropriate sanctions should be brought hard on them according to the law.
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