The Nation Newspaper

Tag: motorists

  • Motorists lament as fuel scarcity bites hard in Kano

    Motorists lament as fuel scarcity bites hard in Kano

    Motorists and commuters in the ancient city of Kano are now experiencing untold hardship, following the acute fuel scarcity.

    Long queues have dotted filling stations, in anticipation of motorists possible selling of fuel to them.

    It was observed that most filling stations within and outside the state owned by both independent and major marketers sell their fuel above the stipulated price.

    In some filling stations the pump price rose between N180 to N200 per litre. While at the black market is sold between N1000 to N1200 per gallon against the normal N650.

    However, most motorists and commuters attributed the biting fuel scarcity hoarding, which usually comes up during festivities and urged the federal government to urgently do something about it before is too late.

    Bus drivers and tricycle operators have also increased their transport fares from N50 to N100, depending on the distance, forcing commuters to trekking for those who could not avoid it.

    A motorists lament the poor handling of the issues affecting the people on the fuel scarcity as people now sleep at filling stations in search of the product.

    Alhaji popoola, who to this reporter said many filling stations have adjusted their meters by selling it at exorbitant price and on the federal government to come to the rescue of Nigerians.

     

  • ‘We’ll be tough on erring motorists’

    ‘We’ll be tough on erring motorists’

    The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) will go tough on recalcitrant motorists during this Yuletide, Ogun State Sector Commander Clement Oladele has said.

    According to him, disobedient motorists will not be allowed to continue their journey, and the vehicle will be impounded until after the season.

    Oladele, who spoke at the ember months’ campaign of Ogere, Ota, Itori, Agbado Unit Commands, said the command deployed 1,000 personnel, with patrol and towing vehicles, in critical roads to enforce compliance with traffic rules.

    The patrol would focus on overloading, over-speeding, driving with worn-out/expired tyres, drink driving, and driver’s licence violation, he added.

    He said any commercial vehicles without the speed limiter would be impounded.

    Oladele appealed to travellers to avoid night journeys, and stop filling passengers’ manifest.

  • Imam, four others killed as Boko Haram attacks motorists

    Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members have attacked motorists on Damboa/Biu highway in Borno State.

    A source said the gunmen attacked travellers at Wajirko village, adding that Adamu Garba, of Bongore village, was injured.

    He said other travellers ran into the bush.

    A police source has confirmed the invasion of Kurmiri village in Magumeri Local Government of Borno State by suspected insurgents, who allegedly killed the chief imam and four other villagers.

    The source said the terrorists were armed with AK 47 rifles and knives, which they used to kill the chief imam and others.

    He added that the attackers avoided the use of guns, not to attract attention, preferring to kill their victims with knives.

    The Caretaker Chairman of Magumeri Local Government, Alhaji Abubakar Abdulkadir, who confirmed the incident in Maiduguri, said: “The chief imam of Kurmiri village and four others were slaughtered by suspected Boko Haram members last night.

    “We woke up this morning (Monday) and received a distress call that one of our communities was attacked by insurgents.

    “Five people were killed, including the chief imam of Kurmiri village. We pray Allah to grant Aljanah Firdaus to the deceased and give their families the fortitude to bear the loss.

    “I hail civilian JTF members and security agents for their bravery, which led to the arrest of one of the attackers.

    “I urge the public not to panic. They should go about their business, as the situation is under control.”

  • Flood sacks motorists on Lagos roads

    Flood sacks motorists on Lagos roads

    Motorists and commuters had a hectic time on major Lagos roads yesterday following torrential rainfall which left all major roads flooded.

    The rains, which started at dawn and lasted till mid-day, created flash floods on Agege Motor Road.

    The floods practically took over three major bus terminals – Ladipo, Shogunle and PWD – on the Ikeja-bound axis of the three-lane expressway, leaving broken down vehicles in its wake.

    A major traffic gridlock quickly built up and snaked from Ladipo to G. Cappa, on the outward-bound carriage of the express, as well as from Ladipo to Capitol Road, on the Agege Motor Road, and up to Egbeda, on the Iyana-Ipaja end, inward-bound Oshodi.

    Many motorists bemoaned the  situation that has become a common feature on the Agege Motor Road, a federal road axial in the state.

    They recalled a similar occurrence last Thursday, which left the entire axis prostrate for about 20 hours after similar rainfall.

    Solomon Oladele, a commuter said he spent five hours on a 35-minute distance (Agege to Oshodi).

    Lamenting what he described as a recurrent nightmare, Oladele wondered why the government had remained unconcerned about the plight of Lagosians who make use of the road.

    When reminded that government had awarded a contract for the construction of a BRT lane on the Oshodi Road, Oladele said the contractor should show more sympathy to the plights of motorists and commuters using the road, by urgently carrying out remedial work on the spot causing gridlock.

    “Let the state government direct the contractor to begin urgent remedial works on the collapsed drainage that was causing the flood in the area, while they continue the major work on the road. That way, they would convince us they do not intend to see us dead before the new road is delivered next year,” Oladele said.

    Similar gridlock was recorded across the state. Many stranded commuters were trekking, when it became apparent they could not get bus to their destination.

    A middle aged woman with  a baby strapped to her back broke down in tears when speaking with our Correspondent. She said she walked from Ikeja to Ladipo.

    “I am tired, I walked from Ikeja to this place (Ladipo), and I’m still going to FESTAC Town, I don’t know how to make it to Oshodi,” she said breaking down in tears shortly before a Good Samaritan  offered her a ride.

  • Flood sacks Motorists on Lagos roads

    Flood sacks Motorists on Lagos roads

    Motorists and commuters had a hectic time travelling on major Lagos roads on Monday.

    This follows a torrential rainfall that started at dawn and lasted till mid-day, leaving all major roads flooded on Monday.

    The flood became a major headache on such roads as the Agege Motor road (as the flash flood practically took over three major bus terminals – Ladipo, Shogunle and PWD, on the Ikeja bound axis of the three lane expressway.

    Several vehicles which could not navigate the flood, broke down and were seen been attended to by their owners inside the flood.

    The flood left a major traffic gridlock that snaked from Ladipo to G. Cappa, on the outward bound carriage of the express, as well as from Ladipo to Capitol Road, on the Agege Motor road, and up to Egbeda, on the Iyana-Ipaja end, inward bound Oshodi.

    Many motorists bemoaned the terrible traffic situation that has become a common feature along the Agege Motor road, a federal road axial in the state.

    They recalled a similar occurrence last Thursday, which left the entire axis prostrate for about 20 hours after similar rainfall.

    Solomon Oladele, a commuter said he spent five hours on a 35 minutes distance (Agege to Oshodi).

    Lamenting what he described as a recurrent nightmare, Oladele wondered why the government has remained unconcerned to the plight of Lagosians who make use of the road.

    When reminded that government had awarded a contract for the construction of a BRT lane on the Oshodi road, Oladele said the contractor should show more sympathy to the plights motorists and commuters using the road, by urgently carrying out remedial work on the spot causing gridlock on the road.

    “Let the state government direct the contractor to begin urgent remedial works on the collapsed drainage that was causing the flood in the area, while the continue the major work on the road. That way, they would convince us they do not intend to see us dead before the new road is delivered next year,” Oladele said.

    Similar gridlock was recorded across the state. Many stranded commuters were trekking, when it became apparent they could not get any bus to their destination.

    A middle aged woman backing a baby broke down in tears when speaking with our Correspondent. She said she had trekked from Ikeja to Ladipo and was lost how she could get to Oshodi from where she could pick a bus to FESTAC Town.

    “I am tired, I trekked from Ikeja to this place (Ladipo), and am still going to FESTAC Town, I don’t know how to make it to Oshodi,” she said breaking down in tears shortly before a good Samaritan motorist offered her a ride.

    Many motorists living around border towns with Ogun State told our Correspondents that the rain has added to their travel challenges. They said they may not return to their various homes on Monday as they cannot face another round of stress on the road.

    “I have called my wife and told her I may not return home tonight.” Tunde, told our correspondent on Monday.

    Another motorist said he might have to wait till midnight before going home to prevent stress.

    The state government have however urged motorists and other road users to exercise patience as normalcy would soon return to the roads. Government says the traffic gridlock is the usual pattern along the area, any time there is rainfall.

     

     

     

  • Motorists celebrate as NDDC begins emergency repairs on East West Road

    Motorists celebrate as NDDC begins emergency repairs on East West Road

    The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has started emergency repairs on some of the failed portions of the East West Road, especially the dilapidated sections between Eleme Junction and the Onne Junction.

    The NDDC Executive Director Projects, Samuel Adjogbe, who inspected the on-going repairs on the road on Friday, was met at various points by excited road users who were visibly happy with what the interventionist agency was doing to ameliorate their sufferings.

    Similar interventions by the NDDC on the Calabar-Itu Road and the Calabar-Ikom Road last year were the saving grace for Cross River State, which was virtually cut off from the rest of the country.

    Engr. Adjogbe said that the emergency intervention was a follow-up to the commitment made recently by the Commission to save the road from total collapse. He recalled that the NDDC Managing Director, Mr Nsima Ekere, had assured the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, who visited the Commission on June 16 that contractors would be mobilised to site immediately to carry out the emergency repairs.

    The Executive Director said  the emergency repairs was the only remedy to what he described as a critical situation, adding that the intervention was necessary to save the very busy and important road artery in the Niger Delta.

    Adjogbe said the NDDC had to embark on the urgent repairs to arrest the deterioration of the road and reduce the pains of motorists commuting to Akwa Ibom and Cross River states. He said he was hopeful that the emergency repairs would be completed within 30 days.

    He expressed satisfaction with the performance of the contractor, adding; “We want to encourage local contractors to continue to improve on their capacity to deliver quality projects for the benefit of the people. This is very important to the NDDC and I am pleased that people in this area are happy with what the contractor is doing here.”

    The site engineer for the construction firm, Mr Celestine Egbe, said that because of the nature of the soil in the area, they were excavating several metres of unsuitable materials before filling back with sharp sand. He noted that they had made substantial progress since they mobilised equipment to site one week ago.

    Some motorists were happy with what they had seen so far and appealed to the NDDC not to relent until the job was fully done.

    For Marcus Wisdom, a bus driver, “the NDDC has saved us from the nightmare that we used to go through on this road. In fact, motorists using this road are very happy with the commission. It used to take travellers about four hours to commute from Eleme Junction to Refinery, a journey that should normally take 20 minutes,” he said.

    Christopher Godwin said:  “Drivers that dared to use the road before now ended up in mechanic workshops. We are very happy with NDDC for what they have done in the last few days.”

    Mr. Ogbonna Chukwudi, a welder, was full of praises for the NDDC for “coming to the rescue of road users.” According to him, a few weeks ago, the road between Eleme Junction and Refinery Junction was virtually impassable.

    The NDDC told the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs that it would take over N70 billion to complete the construction of the East-West Road which straddles the six Southsouth states.

  • Motorists appeal for repair of Benin /Auchi highway

    Motorists plying the Benin/Auchi Highway on Monday appealed to the Federal Government to urgently repair the Ehor/Ekpoma section of the road.

    The motorists said the plea became necessary due to the deplorable state of the section of the highway.

    The motorists told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that they had been undergoing untold hardship from the bad portion of the road.

    They noted that driving within the section had become terrible following the start of the rainy season.

    They said this had increased the travel-time from Benin to Auchi that usually lasted between two hours and two hours and thirty minutes to four hours now.

    The motorists said this was because they had to find an alternative route inside Ekpoma main town, which was fairly better than the highway.

    A motorist, Omo Isaac said, “This has been our predicament since the rainy season started.

    “We wasted so much time trying to navigate the route to get to our destinations.

    “As I speak with you, the Ekpoma section of the highway is impassable.

    “What we do is to pass through another road in Ekpoma town, which is also not in good condition but at least manageable,’’ Isaac said.

    Another motorist, Mr Sunday Amune, decried several articulated vehicles which had broken down on the Ekpoma section of the highway, due to its bad state.

    He said that this had rendered the road impassable for other motorists.

    “Some of my colleagues, who got trapped in the traffic following the rain that fell over the weekend, spent almost the whole day there.

    “As I speak with you, we do not use the highway again. We navigate through Ekpoma main town to come out around Irrua axis.

    “It is really a terrible experience that one is not proud of.

    “`The most annoying thing is that we suffered a similar thing last year,’’ Amune said.

    Mr Dominic Osayi said several motorists had to pass through a longer route of Irruekpen/Afuze to get to Auchi last year.

     

     

     

     

  • Motorists, pedestrians worried over uncovered manholes

    Motorists and pedestrians within Lagos metropolis have expressed worries over uncovered manholes on some roads in the city, describing the situation as dangerous.

    Some of those who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday said that they had continuously incurred huge expenses after their vehicles’ tyres  had  entered uncovered manholes while speeding.

    NAN reports that a manhole; alternatively called  a utility hole, cable chamber, maintenance hole, inspection chamber, access chamber and sewer hole, or confined space, is the top opening to an underground utility vault.

    It is used to house an access point for making connections, inspection, valve adjustments or performing maintenance on underground and buried public utility and other services including water, sewers, telephone, electricity, storm drains, district heating and gas.

    NAN also reports that there are 18 open manholes, located between Barracks Bus Stops and Costain Bus Stops on the Apapa Bound Carriageway on Ikorodu Road and 12 manholes without cover on Eko Bridge on the CMS bound carriageway.

    Similarly, there are 21 open manholes on the same bridge median.

    Also the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway from Oshodi down to Apapa is not left out of uncovered manholes on both carriageways.

    The road users, however, said that the situation was usually worse whenever it rains when the roads’ surfaces are covered by flood.

    They said that it was always difficult for them to notice the uncovered manholes.

    Mr Daniel Onwe, a Lagos-based lawyer, told NAN that to allow uncovered manhole on the road was a violation of human rights to free movements.

    Onwe added, “It is also a threat to the lives of the blind.”

    He called on Federal and Lagos State governments to ensure that uncovered manholes are covered to save the lives.

    Onwe said there was the urgent need for to safeguard the lives of the blind and other pedestrians who risked falling into open manholes.

    “Agencies of either the Federal or the state government saddled with the responsibilities of covering the manholes should be alive to their duties always.

    “They must not wait for when an accident occur especially when it affects persons with disabilities before acting.

    “I appeal to both the Federal and the Lagos State Governments to urgently do something to avert such hazardous situation,’’ he said.

    Also, Mr Oluwale  Omolanke, a commercial bus driver, said he lost two tyres and a wheel damaged  when his vehicle entered an open manhole located in Mende area of Maryland.

    “On that day, there was another vehicle right ahead of mine; and before I could realise it, I found my tyres hooked inside the manhole and I could not continue.

  • FRSC chief advises motorists on safety

    FRSC chief advises motorists on safety

    ‘Despite these efforts, many drivers, commuters, and others still claim they were not aware of certain traffic laws when they were arrested or prosecuted’ 

    The Badagry Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Fatai Adesina Bakare has said car crashes on Nigerian roads would be drastically minimised if road users become passionate about safety measures instead of developing fears of arrests by safety officials.

    He noted that many road users nurse the fear of being arrested by traffic officials instead of developing the desire to master and obey traffic rules and regulations.

    The Unit Commander spoke while briefing reporters on the challenges in his jurisdiction.

    He said road users only behave well when they sight checkpoints, adding that there is need for them to cultivate the virtue of being good road users.

    As road users, it is expected that they obey the rules and regulations. Every road user should be disciplined, careful and considerate to others to ensure safer roads, avoid road crashes, arrest and prosecution.

    He said the Badagry Expressway is one of the roads that link Nigeria with other African countries, resulting in human and vehicular movements that create traffic snarl.

    Other challenges he highlighted were over speeding and driving rickety vehicles on the highway by smugglers, impatience and disobedience to traffic rules.

    To end this ugly trend, Bakare said he has deployed personnel to strategic points across the community to ensure free flow of traffic and to enforce traffic rules. He said the Command had always organised workshops and public enlightenment on the importance of obeying traffic rules in markets, schools, motor parks/garages and religious houses, among others.

    He regretted that despite these efforts, many drivers, commuters, and others still claim they were not aware of certain traffic laws when they were arrested or prosecuted.

    The Commander praised the Corps Marshal Boboye Oyeyemi for providing more tools for the Command in response to their requests. He requested for some operational vehicles such as patrol vans, ambulances and tow trucks from the management or individuals who are passionate about safety on our roads.

    He praised Customs officers for giving his men backups any time they were on patrol and to the Akran of Badagry, Aholu Menu-Toyi I, for his leadership role and passion for safer roads.

    He also praised some fleet owners and operators who have installed speed limiters on their vehicles. He appealed to those who are yet to do so to install the device to avoid arrest.

    Commander Bakare appealed to motorists to ensure that their vehicles have good wipers that would enable them to see clearly when it rains.

    He spoke on the need to have good tyres, saying the good ones would grip well whenever the brakes were applied.

    He said traffic pointers and headlights were also important and, therefore should be in good condition.

    FRSC chief said motorists plying the roads during the rains without good wipers and tyres were endangering their lives and those of other road users.

    He advised motorists to stop when they felt that they could not move well due to heavy rains.

    He condemned a situation where parents allowed their under aged children to drive, believing that they were making them comfortable.

  • LASTMA declares zero tolerance on violation of traffic laws

    LASTMA declares zero tolerance on violation of traffic laws

    …Urges voluntary compliance by motorists   

    The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) on Thursday urged motorists to voluntarily comply with the relevant traffic laws operating in the State, vowing to deal decisively with violators in accordance with the law.

    LASTMA’s General Manager, Mr Olawale Musa, who stated this after meeting with the Zonal Heads and Commanders at the agency’s headquarters in Oshodi, said the agency was appalled with recent action of some motorists who had formed the habit of flouting traffic laws and disregarding directives of traffic personnel on the roads.

    According to him, such road indiscipline and lawlessness were capable of returning chaos and disorderliness to the roads, warning that LASTMA would not condone it and any motorist caught would be dealt with accordingly.

    He said the agency had been inundated with calls and complaints from spirited members of the public to act decisively on violators of traffic laws, but that it was not uncommon to see motorists disregarding traffic lights, zebra signs and repairing faulty vehicles on main carriage ways.

    Musa assured members of the public that LASTMA had heeded their calls, and sanity would be maintained, as the agency would not allow a few disgruntled motorists to truncate the existing sanity, safety, peace and orderliness being enjoyed on the roads by commuters and members of the public.

    He said contrary to opinions being peddled in some quarters, LASTMA has never relented or relaxed in performing its statutory responsibilities, but only observed a re-engineering process that gave birth to the new approach to traffic law enforcement in Lagos State.

    “With this rebirth, traffic officials are now to function on the principles of civility, respect for motorists’ rights, officers’ discipline and zero tolerance for corruption,” Musa said.

    He regretted that despite various efforts to manage and enforce traffic laws in line with the best global practices, many motorists are flouting the laws.

    Musa said while the agency will intensify enforcement, traffic officials have been instructed to operate within the ambit of laws, and be humane in dealing with motorists.

    He, therefore, urged motorists to imbibe and demonstrate the culture of voluntary compliance with traffic laws on the road.

    The agency has also commenced imposing strict sanctions on recalcitrant drivers especially in Ojodu Berger and other parts of the state who have converted the newly constructed lay-bys into motor parks.