The spate of tanker crashes in the country no doubt has become serious concern, especially in the last two years. Today, hardly there is any week without a record of falling tanker, either in Lagos or any other part of the country.
Worried by this development, the Chairman of Capital Oil, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah presented a bill to the Senate in December, 2019. The bill seeks to reduce frequent accidents by petroleum trucks on Nigerian roads.
The bill scaled through second reading in the Senate on Tuesday, 10 December, 2019. According to Ubah, who is representing Anambra South in the Senate, there is need to make consequential provisions towards safe transportation of petroleum products across the country.
While defending the at the floor of the house, Ubah said the bill became necessary to provide a legal framework peculiar to that segment of the transport sector, and to further strengthen existing collaborations between government agencies on transportation of petroleum products by roads.
The Capital Oil boss said the bill was inspired by the urgent need to promote safety in the transportation of petroleum products using trucks, and eliminate practices inimical to freight traffic and petroleum haulage in Nigeria.
“It also seeks to promote the welfare of tanker drivers by ensuring investments in Truck Transit Parks (TTPs) and related transport infrastructure,” he said.
The lawmaker recalled the high incidences of crashes by petroleum tankers over the years that often resulted into loss of lives and properties.
“According to a study by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), between 2007 and 2010 alone a total of 4,017 tanker/trailer crashes were recorded on Nigerian roads with the yearly average of 1,148 cases and monthly average of 96 crashes,” Ubah said.
The bill, he said, introduced a novel provision which is the recognition of TTPs in selected locations across the country.
It also proposed the establishment of Freight Traffic Liabilities Claim Tribunal to handle civil claims arising from petroleum tanker crashes to ensure speedy dispensation of justice to the victims.
Lending his voice to the passage of the bill during the second reading, Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu North) said the bill provided for a short term solution to the problem. He therefore called for resuscitation of oil depots across the country to allow for the delivery of petroleum products through pipelines as a long term solution.
Utazi equally called for the rehabilitation of the nation’s railway network as another safer alternative of transporting petroleum products across the country.
Other Senators who spoke on the bill agreed that there is urgent need for legal framework to curb the tanker crashes menace in the country. With the high spate of tanker crashes in the country, it is hope that the lawmakers will speedily pass the bill and forward to the president for assent.
It is however hopeful that the bill will be passed in no time and also gets the president’s assent.
