THE Senate yesterday resolved to ask the Police to work in conjunction with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to carry out a thorough investigation of the circumstances that led to the fuel tanker accident in Lagos last week.
The upper chamber said the aim of the investigation should be to prosecute anyone found culpable in the preventable fuel tanker fire incident.
It also asked the FRSC, the Police and all relevant security agencies to cooperate with Lagos State and other states in ensuring that drivers of articulated vehicles comply with federal and state traffic safety laws.
It mandated relevant committees of the Senate to invite the FRSC and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with a view to finding a legislative solution towards ensuring that, before trucks are loaded, mandatory safety checks are put in place to ascertain the condition of the tankers and the road worthiness of the vehicles.
The Senate urged the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing and state governments to accelerate the development of trailer parks and installation of way bridges to manage trailer movement on the roads
The resolutions followed a motion by Senators Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East), Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) and Solomon Adeola (Lagos West) on the accident which claimed not fewer than 12 lives and the destruction of over 50 vehicles.
Ashafa in his lead debate noted with sadness the unfortunate petrol tanker inferno of Thursday, 28th June, which took place along the Otedola Bridge in Lagos State.
In the motion captioned: “Need to enforce stricter driving regulations against petrol tankers, trailers and other articulated vehicles across Nigeria, Ashafa identified human error as the major cause of such accidents.
He said: “The Senate is further concerned that there seems to be a clear trail of preventable human error, lack of road worthiness as the prevalent causes of these life threatening accidents.”
Ashafa expressed displeasure over the fact that despite having moved a similar motion in 2015 when a series of fuel tanker fires occurred across Nigeria, including the unfortunate tanker fire which occurred in the Upper Iweka area of Onitsha in Anambra State, claiming 70 lives, in 2015.
“The Senate is concerned that between 2015 and 2018, the same issues of fuel tanker infernos and accidents caused by articulated vehicles still bedevil our highways,” the senator said.
Senator Tinubu, while contributing to the motion, complained about the state of Nigerian roads while appealing to government to create transit parks for trailer drivers.
She stated: “Unfortunately, the roads are appalling. We are all very familiar with the Lagos- Ibadan expressway. I want to appeal to the Senate and Nigeria as a whole to create trailer parks.”
Demanding accountability, Senator Buhari Abdulfatai said: “How can petrol tankers carrying 33,000 litters of fuel experience break failure? Who are those in charge to check these tankers? We need to put measures in place against trucks carrying dangerous products.”
Senator Gbolahan Dada suggested that petroleum products be moved across the country via the use of pipelines.
Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki described the accident as “very unfortunate.”
Saraki noted the incident could have been prevented “if we all abide by the guidelines and ensure enforcement of laws that exist”.
He said: “This is a lesson we need to learn from this, that those agencies in charge of ensuring safety of tanker movement across the country must ensure compliance to ensure that the drivers have adequate licences, that the vehicles have adequate certification showing that they are in good condition to ply the road.”