The Lagos State Government has disclosed plans to introduce and implement logistic routes for trucks and articulated vehicles as specified in the State Transport Master plan.

Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, who stated this at a Stakeholders’ engagement meeting held today at Alausa Ikeja, with truckers on Thursday, stressed that measures aimed at checkmating the incessant truck accidents happening within the state, particularly, the Ojuelegba Bridge incident which resulted in the loss of several lives and property.

According to Oladeinde, “In order to curb incessant truck accidents within the state, the stakeholders’ are gathered periodically to chart robust strategies that will further checkmate unceasing truck accidents in the State, as safety and security of Lagosians remain paramount to the state government.”

He added that a combination of different policies which include erecting truck barriers, compliance with minimum safety standards as well as restricting the movement of articulated vehicles to designated routes would go a long way in curbing persistent truck accidents in the state.

Earlier, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Sola Giwa, said the stakeholders’ meeting was very germane because of lives that are being lost daily due to negligence on the part of drivers and truck owners.

Giwa said, “as a responsive and proactive government, we will not condone unabated truck accidents resulting in the killings of innocent citizens.”

He further stated that the collaboration of the state government and that truck union operating in Lagos will go a long way at ensuring the most desired sanity on the roads is achieved with the full support of the Police and the state’s law enforcement agencies.

Explaining the proposed logistic routes for trucks and articulated vehicles, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Engr. Gbolahan Toriola, also corroborated the commissoner saying the state government was considering implementing the use of designated routes for articulated vehicles as one of the strategies to checkmate the excesses operations and activities of trucks plying the state road.

Toriola said that government does not want to take unilateral decisions hence, essence for the stakeholders’ engagement meeting to dialogue with relevant unions and harmonise strategies before taking necessary steps for implementation.

The permanent secretary, also mentioned that the ministry is currently reviewing the minimum safety standard procedure for trucks and articulated vehicles being implemented by the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) with a view to modifying it, by including the Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Officials in the inspection process.

Toriola also expressed the state government’s willingness to collaborate with relevant truck operators to ensure that drivers manning the steering of trucks are well-trained and only qualified drivers are allowed to drive the trucks/articulated vehicles within the state.

The Representative of the Council of Maritime Transport Union and Association, (COMTUA) Mr. Adeyinka Aroyewun, in response called for genuineness and clarity of purpose by both parties which according to him would help in achieving the desired results.

Also, Remi Ogungbemi of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners, AMATO, urged the state government to checkmate the activities of miscreants, otherwise known as “Area Boys’ who he accused of constituting a nuisance and threat to the lives of truck operators.

Present at the meeting were: representatives from the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Depot and Petroleum Product Marketers Association ( DAPPMAN), Council Of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations ( COMTUA), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Amalgamation of Truck Owners Association of Nigeria (ACTOAN), representatives of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) as well as Vehicle Inspection Services (VIS).

Meanwhile, the stakeholders’ agreed to work with the state government in order to ameliorate the menace of trucks and articulated vehicles in the state.