Petroleum Tanker Accidents killed 306 Nigerians In 2016— FRSC Corps Marshal
Corp Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi yesterday disclosed that over 306 persons were reportedly killed this year in road accidents involving 338 fuel tankers and 692 vehicles across the country.
Dr. Oyeyemi who spoke yesterday at the flag off of the Special End of Year 2016 Patrol in Makurdi, lamented that “losses from tanker crashes have been estimated to be causing the nation about N7billion annually.”
Represented by Assistant Corps Marshal Julius Asom, the Corps Marshal noted that the campaign against carnage on Nigerian roads required the support and collaboration of all stakeholders in the country hence the campaign.
Speaking, chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Comrade John Shom who urged the FRSC to curtail the incessant activities of its mobile court also urged the federal government to address the dilapidated state of Nigerian roads.
In his remark, the Commandant, Nigeria Navy Provost and Regulating School, Commodore Suleman Bello appealed to road users to adopt the strategy of sailors “by having it at the back of their minds that any driver involved in a crash is liable even if the driver of the other ill fated car caused the accident.
“When this strategy is adopted our roads will be safer because all drivers will drive with care just like sailors do.”
Benue state Sector Commander, Chidiebere Nkwonta said the Yuletide season usually witnessed issues of over-speeding, drunken driving, use of phones while driving and recklessness on the roads assuring that the command was prepared to enforce all driving rules in the state.
Governor Samuel Ortom, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works and Transport, Mr. Toytange Akaagerger, said the government would soon establish centralized motor-parks in the three senatorial zones of the state to properly regulate activities of commercial vehicle operators in the state.
