Rising cases of unlatched containers fallen on road users in Lagos are causing disaffection, grief and inspired a petition with thousands of signatures to check the practice, as Daily Trust reports.
On July 26, Chidinma Ajoku and her colleague Nnaekpe Victor had closed from work at the offices of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and were heading home when a container, from a moving truck, fell on their bus at Ilasamaja Bus Stop in Lagos and killed them, alongside one Daniel Okwuoge.
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Chidinma was 27 when the incident happened, leaving her mother, Chineze Ajoku, heartbroken.
“This is becoming too much,” she said tearfully. “These containers keep on killing people and nobody talks. Everybody in Lagos, whether you have a car or take a bus, all of us, our lives are in danger because we encounter all these containers every day and they are very reckless.”
Lagos, being the commercial nerve centre of the country and the host to the nation’s premier ports, has more than its fair share of containers of imported goods being moved about.
Trucks conveying such containers are a common sight on Lagos streets. So are accidents like the one that killed Chidinma and two others.
On August 21, a few weeks after the accident at Ilasamaja, another container toppled on a sedan, killing two women at Odo Olowu Bus Stop at Ijesha.
In June of 2018, a fully loaded truck fell off the Ojuelegba Bridge, crushing cars and its occupants below, as did another at Ojuelegba in April of 2019, killing occupants of the vehicle it fell on.
These containers are integral to the state’s economy, however, a good number of them are being moved unlatched, which causes them to fall off the trucks and cause loss of lives.
In the July 26 incident, the truck with registration number SGM 715 XA loaded with a 20ft container collided into a commercial bus discharging some of its passengers at Ilasa.
Residents say most of the accidents are avoidable if the truckers had properly latched and locked the containers to prevent them from falling off the trucks.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said it has declared war on truck drivers with unlatched containers with 294 trucks impounded in the last two weeks and 317 offenders arrested.
Lagos State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Olusegun Ogungbemide, in a chat with Daily Trust said the enforcement by the corps would continue to ensure that the truckers make it a duty to properly latch their containers before leaving the terminals in Apapa.
“We believe it is the responsibility of any driver to confirm that the container on his truck is well locked and latched before getting on the road. We don’t know where the compromises come from. Ordinarily, the vehicle must not be allowed to leave the terminal without being latched. We have had some truckers claiming it is difficult for them to latch them. These are some of the lapses we are trying to correct with our enforcement. We have told the drivers, there is no going back,” he said.
He, however, stated that the corps would continue its engagement with relevant bodies, especially the leadership of the truck drivers represented by the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) on the import of properly latching their containers.
However, speaking with our correspondent, a NARTO leader, Alhaji Inuwa Abdullahi said most drivers unlatch their containers because of the poor conditions of the road.
“We were told some of the truckers unlatch the container because of bad roads so that when they are trying to manoeuvre, instead of the truck somersaulting in a way that would cause injury to them, they allow the container to fall off. But we have cautioned them to desist from this and we educate our drivers from time to time on the importance of latching the containers,” he said.
Abdullahi, who is the Vice-Chairman of NARTO, Tin-Can Island Port, also blamed the development on importers trying to cut cost by overloading the containers and making them heavier than the trucks meant to convey them.
“When containers are overloaded as we see in some cases up to the sky roof, they usually overpower the trucks but in all of this, we are also educating our members to always take precautionary measures,” he said.
For the State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the drivers’ have to take the blame for the accidents, which they insist are avoidable if the right measures are followed.
To reduce the rising number of accidents, the Nigeria Transportation Commissioners’ Forum (NTCF), yesterday made a case for the restriction of heavy-duty vehicles during the day when there is much traffic on the road.
Hon. Mustapha Jika, spokesman of the Transport Commissioners’ Forum lamented that activities of heavy-duty vehicle operators during daytime “have been unfavourable to traffic management and predictability, and routinely cause fatal accidents on the highways.”
“We observe with dismay the increase in accidents recorded caused by defective/ poorly modified heavy-duty vehicles and unruly drivers. This is why today; we are requesting for a policy document to stop these vehicles from plying the roads during the day,” the commissioners said.
The forum solicited the support of all enforcement agencies in restricting the activities of truck drivers to the evening/midnight belt of the day.
Worried by the ceaseless accidents involving container trucks, some Nigerians initiated a petition to get the state and federal governments to take decisive action on the recklessness of trailer drivers.
According to the online petition started by Uche Anayo-Nwosu, which has garnered over 34,638 signatures as at Sunday, September 12, “the cases of trailers crushing humans have recently been on the increase due to the recklessness of the drivers on our roads.
“This is rampant because the drivers and owners of these trucks are never brought to book. The bereaved families are usually thrown into untold pain and difficulties following the loss of their loved ones.
“If the drivers and owners of these trucks are penalised for their menace, it will bring some sanity and forestall further occurrences,” the petition read.
But the perpetrators of the July 26th incident, which triggered the petition, are currently facing charges of manslaughter at a Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, where the court was told by a Vehicle Inspection Officer (VIO) that the truck had no roadworthiness certificate.
Many believe the increased enforcement drive and the prosecution of drivers would put a stop to the menace.
If that happens, then Mrs Chineze Ajoku, the late Chidinma’s mother, would be more than pleased.
“If the blood of my daughter and the other victims would bring an end to this recklessness and needless deaths, then I can have peace,” she said.
The victims cannot be brought back, but their deaths should at least have a meaning.
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