A diesel tanker tumbled at Obadeyi Bus Stop, on the Lagos Abeokuta Express Road under Ojokoro LCDA of Lagos State on Thursday morning, spilling almost all its content into a nearby canal.
The tanker driver, however, said it was because some people warned him not to drive against traffic as “one-way” enforcers were on duty.
The government’s neglect and insensitivity to the plight of motorists were the focus, as officials of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPN) put estimated losses of spilt products at over fifty million naira, blaming the poor state of the highway for the mishap.
The stretch of the popular highway on the outward Lagos lane of the popular highway, starting from the ‘U Turn’ Bus Stop, under Ojokoro LCDA of Lagos State, traversing Ado Odo Ota, and Ifo Local Government areas of Ogun State, up to Abeokuta, the capital has caused many accidents, leading to loss of uncountable lives in the process.
No casualty was recorded in the Thursday morning mishap, but the driver of the 45,000 litres capacity tanker, who managed to speak to a New Telegraph reporter as he was still dizzy, regretted not driving against traffic by playing the smoother and less problematic inward Lagos lane.
Doing this, he said he would have avoided the craters-littered accident-prone outward Lagos lane towards Sango Ota, his intended destination.
Decrying the state of the road, NUPENG officials present said hardly a day passes without recording loss-wrecking tanker accidents on the pothole-invested highway.
“Mr. Igwe Prince who identified himself as the NUPENG PRO 2 for the Sango Otta branch said his association has done all it knows to call the Government’s attention to the need to fix the road and save the economy avoidable losses, while also blaming an excavated part at Obadeyi for the mishap.
“When we get this kind of report, we contact security agencies; police, Fire Services, and so on. As you can see, the atmosphere is now calm. But it’s just that it’s a great loss” said Prince, blaming the accident on the poor condition of the road.
“And as you can see, it is as a result of the bad road. We are talking about more than 50 million naira loss, including costs of damage to the truck”, he said.
The dilapidated condition of the road has caused us unquantifiable losses”, another NUPENG leader who identified himself simply as Prince said as he pointed to an excavated part of the express road where accidents usually occur.
“Look at this road from here to Ifo, even after Ifo, the road is terrible”, he lamented while sounding a save our soul message to the Federal Government to help complete the road and save them the frequent loss of money and lives of members.
Yusuf Oluwatoyin, leading responders from Lagos State Fire Rescue Service, who were on standby with a fire tank at the accident scene, advised members of the public to desist from always jumping to scoop spilled fuel anytime a tanker has an accident.
“Fire may come from there and everybody will be in danger, that is why we always advise people to stop taking the deadly advantage.” Said Yusuf.