The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Accident

  • Truck kills two in Aba

    Truck kills two in Aba

    Two persons were at the weekend in Aba, Abia State feared dead in an auto crash.

    A beverage drink truck with registration number Lagos FST 796 XC and a tricycle with registration number Imo KGE 920 QA were involved in the accident.

    The incident it was gathered occurred along Aba-Ikot Ekpene near Bata round about on Sunday afternoon when residents of the commercial city were returning back from church services.

    Nation gathered that the driver Marizu Nwankpa apparently lost control while he was negotiating into Aba-Ikot Ekpene road from Aba-Owerri road.

    It was learnt that while he knocked down a man reading newspaper in a news vendor’s stand near the junction before he collided with a tricycle that was coming from the opposite direction.

    Report has it that a commuter inside the tricycle also died on the spot, leaving three others including the tricycle operator severely wounded.

    An eye witness who was still in shock told our correspondent at the scene of the accident that the identities of the victims could not be ascertained as the victims’ bodies were crushed beyond recognition.

    The bodies of the accident victims had been evacuated and deposited in an undisclosed mortuary by Police officers from the Eziama Police Division. The injured person were also said to have been taken to a hospital where they were said to be receiving medical attention.

    The driver of the truck is in the custody of Eziama Police station. The tricycle until the time of filling this report was still at the scene of the accident while the truck has been towed to the police station.

    Unconfirmed report has it that one of the dead victims was a final year student of Abia State Polytechnic Aba.

    When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the polytechnic, Mr. Anyalewachi Chigozirim said that they were yet to receive report from police or any other source about their student being involved in auto crash.

  • Photo : Petrol tanker on two cars

    Photo : Petrol tanker on two cars

    A petrol tanker on two vehicles spilling its contents on the Iyana Isolo bridge, Lagos Saturday morning
    Accident involving a  petrol tanker on two vehicles spilling its contents on the Iyana Isolo bridge, Lagos Saturday morning

    PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE

  • 10 burnt to death in Lagos-Ibadan Express road

    Ten people were Monday evening burnt to death in a motor accident which occurred along Lagos-Ibadan expressway road.

    Confirming the incident, The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Oluyole Unit Commander, Sanya Adeoye noted that four people survived while the other victims burnt beyond recognition.

    He explained that the accident involved three vehicles, two trucks and one 18-seater Toyota Hiace commercial bus with registration number BDG 767 XB.

    According to him, the Lagos- Ibadan bound had stopped on the road to allow one of the trucks  with registration number SW 175 EPE coming out form NSCE Quarry  when unfortunately another truck also coming from Lagos ran into the commercial bus and smatched it to the stationed truck.

    He said the accident was as a result of over speed violation and dangerous driving.

    Instantly, Adeoye said the commercial went up in flames which later spread to other trucks.

    The FRSC official stated that the four people who sustained injuries were passengers inside the trucks and that they being taken to the University College Hospital (UCH) for treatment while the victims who were burnt beyond recognition were deposited at the Adeoyo State Hospital mortuary.

    However, continued efforts were made by the FRSC Unit Commander to reach out to families of the victims through the driver’s manifest which was not burnt.

  • My accident has united Edo, says Imansuangbon

    After surviving a road accident on November 13, last year,  the proprietor and chairman of Abuja-based Pace Setters Group of Schools, Kenneth Imansuangbon, was at the Rev. Felix Omobude-led New Covenant Gospel Church, Benin, Edo State for thanksgiving. The Edo Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant spoke with reporters after the service. Sunday Oguntola was there.

    Congratulations for surviving the accident. Were there any premonitions?

    Yes. I knew somehow that there were evil persons who were not happy with what I was doing for the masses. I felt somehow that they were not happy with the good I am doing, like sharing rice, giving scholarships, sponsoring essay competitions, football competitions in Edo and across the country, reaching out to widows and orphans and so on.

    I knew that some people don’t like such good things. But there are also some people that love it. Each time I do such things, it is because of my faith in God. The background I came from is very poor. I lost my father in 1983. From that point in time, mama (my mother) toiled day and night to provide for our needs.

    Mama trained me with black cloth (mourning attires). I am the first of six children. My mother, Elizabeth Imansuangbon, is a wonderful woman; very resilient and courageous. When my father died, she didn’t abandon us to marry another man. She was very beautiful. She stood by me. I actually benefited from the sympathy of the public. So, that is why you see me giving. I can give my knickers, shoes and even pant and go naked without batting an eyelid.

    It is believed you are into all these humanitarian activities to win elections. How do you react to this?

    It is in my DNA to have sympathy on the poor. If they know where I am coming from, they would know that nothing can be farther from the truth. My guiding principle is that politics should have face of humanity.

    When I give, I give selflessly. Even when I give, I can do it in pains. There are certain things you give even when you don’t have. But you’re constrained to give because you could see the weakness and begging of the people with their eyes and with their body languages.

    So, you’re left with no option but to bend over backward to give. At times, I feel pain. It is not easy to give. At times, I feel, this money that I am giving, would I not keep it for me children? Or why don’t I use it buy big cars, expensive wristwatches and to build a big house? This house I live in (in Benin) is a rented apartment.

    What are the lessons you have learnt from that accident?

    That life is a vanity. It’s like a vapour. November 14, I would have died were it not for the mercies of God. Life is very frail and temporal. On November 13, I was coming from Akure where I went for the burial of my very good friend, Deji Falae. Deji had died. Back home, I was almost gone. But the finger of God stopped death and Satan and gave me life. God said, ‘No, touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm.’ That was what saved me.

    I must say that as a result of the accident, two things have happened. I have taken two decisions. As a result of this accident, I would hold on to God the more, serve Him better than ever, serve the community and the people.

    I will serve Edo people, serve Nigeria and serve the world. Let me also add that the accident has brought unity to the state. It has synergised PDP and APC. And because of that safety, Edo people are together now. The safety God granted me has bonded the two dominant political parties (APC and PDP) in the state. The governor and I are friends now. We’re brothers.

    Everybody is one now. The accident that almost claimed my life has unified Edo people. What makes Edo strong is not PDP. What makes Edo strong is not APC. What makes Edo strong is not the rich oil or vegetation in the state. What makes Edo strong is the spirit of forgiveness, the spirit of unity, the spirit that I can criticise the Comrade Governor, and the next day, he can come to my thanksgiving. That’s love.

    You rose from rag to riches from grass to grace. What was the turning point?

    From Ewohinmi, my mother would come to Benin when I was in ICE, wearing black clothes. I am sorry to say this but parts of our culture are unfriendly and unkind to woman. If a woman loses her spouse, for three years, she is made to wear black clothes. She would come to Benin with her black clothes to give me foodstuff and other necessities.

    For me, I knew that the only way was to succeed. I would tell her, ‘Mama, don’t worry. If it pleases the God Almighty, the end would justify the means.’ In all, today, I am grateful to God and to my mother. Also, I have a very great wife, Kate. She is like a bulwark. She is my brain. God gave me a good partner. Whatever I am today, she is very instrumental to it. And she is a God-fearing woman.

    Is it true you weep anytime you travel overseas?

    The first time I got to the US, I was crying. I wept. The American Customs office asked why I was crying. I told him I was crying because I didn’t know why my country was not like this. Where did we miss it as a people?

    That was actually what triggered my interest in politics. That was the reason I said no matter the hazards in politics, some of us are ready to live and die for what we believe in to make a change in our country. This change is coming. This change will come. This change is here.

  • Another tanker accident at Aramoko -Ekiti claims lives

    Another tanker accident at Aramoko -Ekiti claims lives

    As another petrol tanker fell off its path, killing a minimum of six persons and destroying properties valued at millions of naira in Aramoko-Ekiti, Tuesday last week, fresh concerns were raised regarding the expediency of the completion of a long abandoned by-pass around the town by the Federal Government, writes SULAIMAN SALAWUDEEN

    It was a harrowing sight, horrible and apocalyptic. Dense smell of human beings and other objects roasted by the ill-fated petrol laden tanker the evening of the day before assailed the nostrils as the reporter moved amidst the rubble and beheld heaps of charred red bricks and metals which littered the scene.

    There it was still, the reason for the sorrow. Though burnt and misshapen, the tanker laden at the time it fell off the high way with thousands of litres of fuel still lay rooted to the spot where no less than six persons met their untimely end Tuesday, last week.

    The accident which, according to eye witnesses, occurred some minutes to 6 pm on the day also destroyed two buildings, two vehicles, about ten motorcycles and other valuables, all valued at about N10 million.

    Mr. Babatimilehin Bamidele, an occupant of one of the two burnt buildings, lamented his fate, saying “My diploma certificate and other important documents have gone. I just came back from a journey, undressed and came outside to get some fresh air.

    “I was outside, chatting with friends under that tree when the truck came with the message of destruction. I could not recover anything. This cloth I am wearing was donated to me. I came out with only the trousers and singlet.

    Some of the dead, according to findings, included one Pa Abiodun Ololade, 78 years, Kokoro Owo reportedly in his fifties and a teenager said to be one Gani Foto’s step child. So also was 16-year-old Ahmed Bakare, an SS2 student of Aramoko District Commercial Secondary School.

    Other losers, aside those who lost dear lives, was Mr. Agunbiade Kareem. His Toyota Corrola car which “they had proposed to buy from me at N1.4 million”, two plasma TVs, Sharp TV, 6 DSTV decoders and a sum of N513,000 in cash were  burnt.

    Another, Mrs. Arowosafe Kubrat, explained she just returned from Osogbo with her Honda Accord car, noting “hardly had I entered my house after parking the car than I heard a loud explosion.

    “Rushing outside, I could not see the car again. The truck had fallen on it. Inside it was a sum of N103,000, some tubers if yam, and a leather box containing various dresses. The particulars of the vehicle and those of another vehicle were inside the car”, Kubrat said.

    The two buildings burnt, going by findings, belonged to Mrs. Agunbiade Ayisat Abiodun Falade and Chief Ololade Odofin Ilure. Efforts made to reach them were unsuccessful.

    Such occurrences of goods bearing trucks falling off their paths and devastating life and property had continued to menace the people of the communities which lie on the highway from Itawure junction down to Erio, Aramoko, Igede and Iyin.

    Findings also revealed that scores of such had equally been recorded in other parts of the State as elsewhere in the country.

    Chief Ololade Isaac, the Aro Ilure, explained that no fewer than 25 of such trucks had at various times in the past fallen off,  killing people and destroying properties.

    “The problem has to do with the sloppy pattern of the road which is a natural thing. There is nothing anyone can do to the road. What can be done is to have an alternative route which will take the trucks off this road.

    “Each time it occurred like this, we cry and shout. At the end, nothing would be done. Nothing is ever being done and it is just because those who are responsible for the completion of the road have never been affected. If they are once, the next day, they will mobilise to site and complete whatever remain”, Chief Ololade said.

    According to a young man who identified himself as Sunday, the driver of the truck had been aware that the truck’s propeller had detached just as he entered the town from Ibadan-Ilesa end but could perhaps no longer control the truck as it kept coming down the sloppy portion of the road towards the town’s main junction.

    Sunday said: “We were there when the truck was coming down and the propeller kept scratching the road. We followed it to see how he would manage but the truck went where it wanted to go. Immediately it rolled off the road into the buildings, it emitted thick smoke and then caught fire”.

    Although, victims of the accident had been taken to the mortuary while some had been buried, findings revealed that the driver of the tanker who was first detained at Aramoko Divisional Police Station had been released. Investigations also showed that some of the dead victims were still at the mortuary of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH).

    However, while some residents vowed to stop the trucks from plying the main road as an immediate outrage against the accident, they were later pacified on the excuse that it would not be possible to stop them unless an alternative was created.

    As many indigenes of the town had commented and findings have shown, there is another road, a by-pass, which can serve as an alternative route for the trucks and which has been abandoned by the federal government for well over thirty years.

    Baba Tiamiyu Lawal, Mr. Olawale Falusi and Baba Timilehin Bamidele, residents of the town condemned the Federal Government for abandoning the by-pass which could have taken the trucks and other heavy duty vehicles away from the township road and prevent the incessant accidents

    Also stating the worries of the residents, the town’s monarch, Oba Olu Adeyemi, who accompanied the Deputy Governor, Prof. Modupe Adelabu to the scene the next day lamented that the Federal Government had awarded the construction of a road that would link Ado-Ekiti  from Itawure near Efon Alaaye and which would by-pass Aramoko, Erio, Igede and Iyin Ekiti  during the regime of Alhaji Shehu Shagari in the second republic.

    Oba Adeyemi said, “The road that passes through our town is not only hilly but winding and this has been causing a lot of accidents. I want to believe that if there is a by-pass, some of these accidents would be prevented. And I urge the Federal Government to revisit the contract to save my people from untimely death”.

    Although, efforts made to locate the officer in charge of federal roads in Ekiti State was unsuccessful, there appears to be readiness on the part of the State government to either reconstruct or complete the by-pass.

    The state Governor Kayode Fayemi, gave this indication while on a condolence visit to the families of the victims.

    According to the governor, the alternative route, a by-pass, would be embarked upon and completed soonest by the administration, to take the trucks off the current route which has menaced lives and properties in the town and other towns in the area.

    While blaming the Federal Government for failing to reimburse the Ekiti State government for the N12 billion it spent to fix federal roads, Fayemi said the state would have embarked on the construction of Iyin-Itawure road which was awarded during the Shagari era but has been abandoned.

    Said he, ”We clearly cannot continue this way. It also brings to the fore the challenges we are facing fixing federal government roads. This state, as challenging as things are for us, we are being owed more than 12 billion Naira for doing roads belonging to federal government.

    “If that money has been returned to us, we would have embarked on the new Iyin-Itawure road which we have in our own plans and that would have taken all the vehicles away from this place so that our people can have a free access without fear of some drunken driver or break failure resulting in terrible and unfortunate death such as we have witnessed here. I think we need great cooperation from the Federal Government to live up to its own responsibilities”, Fayemi said.

    The governor also promised to ensure that more officials of the State Traffic Management Agency (EKSTMA) were deployed to the route to ensure that vehicles plying the route obey traffic regulations.

  • High accident rate: Govt to blame (II)

    High accident rate: Govt to blame (II)

    Hence the low functions – Performance ratio which no arm of the government seems to be interested in analysing. Hence the need for an urgent review.

    •The judiciary should be more proactive in pronouncing appropriate judgments against drivers who kill people or destroy public/private properties through avoidable errors.

    •Public and private sector organisations should be compelled to have and operate driver/safety policy, appraised and monitored regularly by appropriate agencies.

    •The Graduated Driver Licensing scheme must be thoroughly implemented without any form of bias or favouritism. A joint conference on this is needful.

    •The Highway Code has a list of errors and omissions. There are several traffic signs being used in various parts of Nigeria and in other countries which are not in the Highway Code. The Highway Code should, therefore, be updated to reflect the road traffic realities. Objective comparative analysis should be made with the Highway Codes of other countries. Many states governments use different shapes and colours for traffic signs.

    •In Britain, the Driving Standards Agency (which is the Regulatory Agency) produce and update every two years the official Theory Test, Practical Test and Hazard Perception DVD, which the driving schools use to train and prepare drivers for the processing of their Licence. No one obtains the Driver Licence without passing the rigorous Theory and Practical Tests. There is no room for shortcut no matter who you are in the United Kingdom. Candidates of compromising Driving Schools will fail the tests and be sent back for further training and studies. The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) must realise their functions and be more proactive in this area. We cannot plant vegetable and be expecting to harvest orange.

    •It has become very expedient more than ever before, that the Federal Ministry of Transport in collaboration with other Federal and state government agencies should package a result-oriented national conference to enable all the stakeholders make their input towards ensuring the accomplishment of the Nigeria’s part of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020). Otherwise, in 2019, we shall be singing the song we are singing about the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). The Presidency, the Executive Arm of Government, the Legislative Arm of Government and the Judicial Arm of Government at the Federal and state levels must come together to review the state of safety on Nigeria roads and Chart the way forward.

    FRSC and the various state driver institutes should totally relinquish the training and re-training of drivers to driving schools while they set standards, regulate and monitor the driving schools. Training and re-training of drivers should have a practical content which only the driving schools can provide.

    The FRSC, the VIOs and the Police should come together to harmonise their roles for the safety of lives and valuable properties perishing on Nigeria roads every day. Income and ego must not be the motivating factors in their activities but the safety of irreparable lives and properties.

    Once again, I hereby re-iterate that the decrees or acts regulating the activities of all government agencies responsible for transportation and Road Safety must be objectively reviewed and updated to enhance safety on the roads.

    The governments and relevant government agencies should assist the driving schools with the road facilities to boost their standards for safety of lives and properties.

    There must be a standardised and uniform Theory and Practical Tests (covering the National Curriculum of Driving Schools), to be administered on all the novice (learner) drivers and those seeking the renewal of their Driver Licence with strict enforcement by the relevant agencies in collaboration with the driving schools in all states and the Federal Capital Territory (a complete replica of what obtains in the United Kingdom), driving schools have an obligation for high standards and discipline. Once driving schools are well-positioned to generate good income, they can then be tasked to maintain very high standards like their counterparts in the United Kingdom and the United States. A stitch in time saves nine.

  • 3 dead, 15 injured in Ibadan accident

    Three people were on Sunday  feared dead while 15 others were injured in a motor accident in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
    Two commuter buses were said to have collided at Awolowo Road junction, Bodija area of the city causing the tragedy.
    A Lagos bound Volkswagen bus with registration number Lagos LSR 945 XH and a Toyota bus with the registration number AJ 91 MNY carrying passengers were involved in the collision.
    The injured persons were taken to the Accident and Emergency Unit  of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan for treatment.
     An eyewitness who preferred anonymity attributed the accident to overspeeding  by the driver of Volkswagen bus. He added that the driver was drunk, pointing out that bottles of beer were found in the bus.
    He disclosed that they stumbled on the bottles during rescue operation.
     The  Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Oyo State Police Command, Mrs Olabisi Ilobanafo, confirmed the incident.

     

  • 2,240 accident victims saved by O’Ambulance in seven months

    The Osun Ambulance Service Agency, otherwise known as O’Ambulance has saved the lives of no fewer than 2,240 accident victims across the state in the last seven months, its General Manager Dr. Olusoji Akinloye has said.

    Akinloye who made the disclosure at the opening of a two-day training workshop for paramedics working with the agency said: “The services we render cannot be quantified in terms of monetary value because we have saved many lives and  prevented untimely deaths in many homes.

    The O’Ambulance was inaugurated about seven months ago and on the average, we rescue 320 victims per month. Our paramedics have been effective but this training was organised to make them more effective. They have been providing prompt and excellent services to victims and patients and we have to encourage them to do more by equipping them with training.”

    He advised the residents to call 07080601212 any time there was an emergency situation around them, saying that the Aregbesola administration laid premium on human life.

    The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Temitope Ilori, advised the paramedics to ensure that they live up to international standard in carrying out their statutory duties. She said, Governor Rauf Aregbesola was very passionate about the service the O’Ambullance render and therefore, urged the paramedics to be diligent.

    The commissioner urged the participants to show interest in the workshop, which she said would improve their operations. She, however, sounded the note of warning that whoever failed to score above the average in the test which they are expected write at the end of the workshop will not be awarded a certificate.

    A United Kingdom-based expert, Dr. Ademola Onifade, who maintained that paramedics must know how to drive to make their services better, said that knowing how to drive would shorten the time victims would take to get to hospitals for treatment.

    Also, another UK-based paramedic, Mr. Malcom Finn, advised the participants to add value to their services, saying they must strive to satisfy patients and victims.  Many of the paramedics agreed that the workshop would add value to them in various ways.

  • Woman, children, five others die in accident

    About 10 people were killed yesterday when a container fell on a commercial bus along the Suru-Alaba area of Lagos State. The accident reportedly occurred about 9am.

    The incident was said to have occurred when a commercial bus attemped to avoid a mad man who was lying on the road.

    A woman, her four children, an old woman and four others were said to have been killed in the accident alongside many others.

    An eyewitness said: “The accident was caused by mad man sleeping on the road. The commercial bus was struggling not to crush the lunatic while a truck carrying a container was trying to avoid crushing the bus. It happened this morning at about 9am. The commercial bus was going to Okoko in Iyana Oba area. It was trying to pick passengers and there was a trailer laden with a container filled with vehicle engines. There was a mad man lying on the road as the bus was coming from Orile axis. The bus swerved to the left to avoid the mad man, while the container swerved also.”

    He added: “The truck almost scaled a nearby culvert, but the container fell on the bus with its passengers. Those in the bus died. A woman and her four children were killed. An old woman and four others died. A woman who survived had her two legs cut off in the accident.”

    It was gathered that the state emergency management officials rushed to the scene to take the injured victims to the hospital, while the dead were taken to the morgue.”

  • Woman, children, five others killed in Lagos accident

    About 10 persons were feared Wednesday  after a container fell on a commercial bus along the Alaba Suru area of Lagos State.
    Eyewitnesses accounts said the accident occurred about 9am.
    The accident was caused by a mad man sleeping on the road, who a commercial bus was trying to avoid.
    A mother, her four children, an old woman and four others were said to have been killed in the accident, with many other people injured.
    One of the victims, a woman survived with two shattered legs.
    An eyewitness said; ” the accident was caused by mad man sleeping on the road. The commercial bus was trying to avoid crushing the mad man while the container was trying to avoid crushing the commercial bus.
    “It all happened this morning at about 9am. There was a commercial bus going to Okoko Iyanaoba, calling for passengers and there was a trailer laden with a container filled with vehicle engines.
    “There was a mad man lying on the road and a commercial bus was coming from Orile axis. The bus swerved to the left to avoid the mad man on the road and the container swerved also to the left to avoid the commercial bus.
    “The container was about to scale the culvert, but the container fell to the right, and fell on the bus picking passengers. Those sitting on the ground died. A woman with four children were killed. An old woman and four others died. A woman who survived had her two legs cut off in the accident.”
    It was gathered that LASEM bus rushed to the scene to take the wounded to hospital and the dead to the hospital.”