One thing that is very common in almost all highways across Nigeria today is the presence of trucks parked by the road side. While some of the drivers parked by road side to have a rest before continuing their journey, some do so to fix their trucks.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola is not happy with this development as he issued a seven days ultimatum to truckers in Niger state on Tuesday to quit highways or risk being arrested.
The minister said he would bring law enforcement agent to move all the trucks away after one week of giving the warning.
Speaking at Gawu Babangida in Gurara Local Government Area of the state during the inspection of Federal roads on Tuesday, Fashola ordered the trucker to quit the road and acquire their own park where they will park their trucks. He ordered the trucks to move from the roads to enable the contractors do their jobs effectively.
In his word, the Minister said “the truck drivers must leave the road. I give you one week to leave; otherwise, I will bring law enforcement agents to move all of you away. We want all truck users and National Union of Road Transport Workers to leave our highways. Let them acquire their own parks and allow the contractors to finish work at a specified time.
“You have to tell all other drivers to leave the highways. You must leave our highways. You need the road to do your business. Therefore, you must allow the contractor to work on the roads. If you leave your trucks on the road, there is no way the contractors can finish their job,” he said
Fashola reiterated that the roads wear off as a result of oil and other substances the trucks discharge in motion adding that the roads get deteriorated due to heavy vehicular traffic, especially trucks.
He said “asphalt is being destroyed by the oil truck drivers pour on it on a daily bases, which the contractors must replace before the continuation of work to the next level. This leads to wasting resources that could have fast-tracked the road construction.
