LAGOS—After last week’s respite from the usual heavy traffic
situation on Oshodi-Apapa expressway, fuel tankers resurfaced at the weekend,
blocking the entire access road.
Standstill at Mile-2 to Tincan..
This was in spite of a directive
from Lagos State House of Assembly to relevant authorities to ensure evacuation
of all trucks from the road.
The tankers, which came from various
parts of the country are back in their numbers which has resulted in total
standstill.
The fear is that the situation will
be worse today, if nothing concrete was done by law enforcement agents.
Members of the Lagos State House of
Assembly had sometime last week directed law enforcement agencies to ensure
immediate evacuation of all trucks parked along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.
The lawmakers condemned the
indiscriminate parking of the tankers conveying petroleum products on highway
which they lamented had resulted in traffic gridlock around the area and other
link roads.
A member of the assembly, Rotimi
Olowo, who moved the motion during plenary, said the call for the removal of
the tankers had become necessary in order to safeguard lives and property of
the residents of the state.
He enjoined his colleagues to call
on the members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas, NUPENG,
Workers and the police authority in the state to come to the aid of the
residents by ensuring free flow of traffic in the axis.
Also, Lanre Ogunyemi, who noted that
the traffic situation in the area calls for serious concern, explained that
residents making use of the expressway often have tales to tell.
Ogunyemi, recalled that Governor
Babatunde Fashola of the state, had visited the area severally to appeal to the
tanker drivers to maintain decorum and strict compliance with the state traffic
Law.
He however, lamented that the
efforts yielded little results to restoring normalcy.
The lawmaker further said that
though it was regrettable that the Federal Government had not taken any
concrete step to abate the situation, the state government should do everything
possible to redeem the situation and come to the aid of residents of the state
by curtailing the unnecessary hardship that have affected both individual and
the state’s economy, trade and business.
Also contributing, Deputy Majority
Leader of the House, Lola Akande, urged stakeholders to intensify enforcement
of the state’s existing traffic law to bring the problem under control.
While calling for punishment for
recalcitrant offenders Akande stated, “The solution to the problems lies in
effective enforcement of the state traffic law. If one offender is prosecuted
diligently according to the law, others will comply.” she said.
The house subsequently, in a
unanimous decision called on the Commissioner of Police in the state as well as
other relevant agencies responsible for traffic management to enforce
compliance with state traffic law and other relevant provision that would
restore normalcy and orderliness to the route.
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