The Nation Newspaper

Tag: roads

  • Ebonyi gets bulldozers for agric, roads

    Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi has inaugurated 13 bulldozers procured by the caretaker chairmen of the 13 local government areas of the state for rice production and road construction.

    The governor expressed joy at the development, thanking God for his  administration’s success so far.

    He said when he took office, his administration bought similar equipment worth about N1.8 billion for similar purposes.

    Umahi said it was a joint agreement between the state and local governments that every local council has one grader and a bulldozer in order to have access roads and also to prepare their farms for rice production.

    He added that every council had already got one caterpillar.

    He urged the council bosses to deploy the equipment to work and ensure that they generated employment through the programme.

    “You should be able to train civil servants. Each of the bulldozers and graders should be able to have three trainees each attached to whoever that is going to be the operator,”he added.

    Earlier, the Commissioner for Local GovernmentS and Chieftaincy Matters, Mr Samuel Okoronkwo, a lawyer, explained that the 13 bulldozers cost N442 million and 40% out of the total cost has been paid while the remaining 60% would be paid in installments within six months.

    Mr. Okoronkwo also said 13 graders purchased by the local government council chairmen will arrive in the state soon.

    He assured the governor of the commitment and readiness of the council areas to key into the agricultural policies of the state government to boost food production and internally generated revenue for the state.

     

  • Residents hail council over roads

    Residents of Egbe Idimu Local Council Development Area have praised the Executive Secretary Kunle Olowoopejo for fixing roads in the council that had been in deplorable condition.

    A community leader, Chief Jebutu Oladipupo said previous council chairmen never bothered with repairing bad roads.

    Olowoopejo, who led state monitoring officers from the Ministry of Local Government to two of the road sites, appealled to officers of the state Water Cooperation to liaise with the contractor handling the Community Road, Egbe, to ensure the project is completed on schedule.

    He made the appeal following complaints by the community leaders in Egbe that the officers threatened to open the water pipe which had not been functioning for months if the council failed to consult with them adequately.

    Olowoopejo said: “Water Corporation is an agency of the state. The Local Government is the baby of the state. The water is meant for the residents. The roads are also meant to ease the burden of the people, so we must work in harmony in order to achieve the mega city status of the state.”

    The council road currently under construction was where first Secretariat of Alimosho Local Government Area was located before it was relocated to Ikotun Market area.

    When completed, it will ease the traffic congestion around the Popular council bus stop.

  • Ambode and Lagos’ roads to prosperity  

    It is no longer news that Lagos is the fastest growing mega city in the world. It is currently expanding at about five percent a year and is projected to achieve meta-city status by the year 2020. A recent study reveals that over 25,000 people, from across the world, move into Lagos on a daily basis. This is what makes Lagos a melting pot. The presence of people from diverse walks of life is partly responsible for the prosperity of Lagos. It is ironic however, that this has also brought a huge pressure on the state as its sheer human population puts serious pressure on its infrastructure and resources.

    Without a doubt, Lagos roads suffer significantly as a result of the city’s recent phenomenal growth in population. The sheer number of vehicles, of various categories, that ply Lagos roads on a daily basis is second to none in the whole of Africa. The pressure that that these vehicles daily exert on roads across the state makes them easily susceptible to wearing out before long. This is why successive governments in the state spend quite a fortune on roads rehabilitation and maintenance.

    It is, however, not only the sheer size of Lagos that affects its infrastructure, the topography equally poses a major challenge to sustainable infrastructure in the state, especially roads. Many road projects are subject of massive soil replacements after series of seismological tests that has enormous cost implications for the projects. Other challenges of road maintenance in the state includes the lack of ownership of infrastructure that is, vandalization of road furniture and public utilities by indiscriminate dumping of refuse on roads and drainages, activities of roadside mechanics and carwash operators and axle overload on inner-city roads.

    In our society, there is arguably no achievement that boosts good assessment of a government than construction and rehabilitation of roads. It is in the light of this reality that the Ambode administration has, in the last six months embarked on massive road rehabilitation and maintenance across the state. For the administration, which actually came on board in the thick of the rainy season, road rehabilitation is a necessity. In Lagos, the rainy season often has serious implications for human and vehicular movement.  Since significant portions of the roads have been largely damaged by the rains, the Ambode administration came up with “Operation fix all potholes”, which is geared towards ridding all roads of potholes to enhance a hitch free vehicular movement. By defying the prolonged rainy season in its road rehabilitation’s quest, the administration has disregarded a universally held belief that road maintenance work is seldom done during the rains.

    Through this process, over 300 roads have been improved across the state. These include Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Mongoro-Cement-Dopemu under bridge axis, Ijaye road, Moses Adedayo Street, Ojodu, Oba Akran Avenue, Ogba, Charity/Olayiwola/Olaniyi road network, Abule Egba, Ipakodo-Ijede road, Isaro road, Ikorodu, Ikotun-Ijegun road, Okekoto axis, Agege, Epe-Ijebu -Ode road, Odumola-Poka/College road junction axis, Ado road, Ajah, Obalende bridge descent inward NIPOST,  Lekki-Epe expressway, Elemoro-Abijo axis,   Billings way, Oregun,  Ashabi Cole street, Alausa, Abdul Ouadri Adebiyi street, Magodo Ph II among others. This is aside major rehabilitation works that had been done on the recently commissioned Ejigbo-Ikotun road, Moshalasi-Ayobo road, ACME road among others.

    Meanwhile, it is imperative to emphasize that the exercise covers and favours every division, senatorial district as well as Local Government Council Areas in the state. This is in furtherance of the vision of Governor Ambode to operate an all-inclusive government. Ambode’s idea of an all inclusive government is one in which “no one or segment of the society, irrespective of colour, race, faith, status, ability or disability is left behind”. It is, however, important to stress that the palliative works being carried out on some strategic roads across the state are not meant to provide permanent solution but temporary relief for Lagos residents pending the setting in of dry season, when real asphalt works will be applied to the depressed surface. Considering the level of work done so far on the roads, in addition to several on-going commitments such as the newly commissioned Mile 12-Ikorodu BRT lane and busses, it is expected that significant improvement will soon begin to take place in road transportation across the state.

    Of late, the rate at which roads are being rehabilitated in the state has been impressive.  Expectedly, this has attracted widespread commendations from far and near and has convinced the citizenry that with Ambode, Lagos is, indeed, in safe hands. One positive impact of on-going road repair across the state is employment generation. For instance, it has been estimated that over 815 jobs for both skilled and unskilled labour have been generated by the on-going road rehabilitation exercise in the state. In the same vein, some of these road projects have also increased the capacity of Lagos residents to create wealth. For instance, it has been observed that, among others, business enterprise and other socio-economic activities have significantly picked along the newly commissioned Ikotun-Egbe road as well as the new improved Ayobo-Ipaja road. This is against the backdrop of the massive infrastructural renewal that has taken along the axis.

    A major driving force of the Ambode administration is poverty eradication and sustainable economic growth through infrastructure renewal and development. To sustain current gains, the state government has continued to maintain and actively create an enabling environment for both the people and corporate entities to thrive. This is why the infrastructure development programme being promoted by the administration is very vital. Benefits, strategic to the state economy, which the government will get from on-going road projects, for instance, include a strategic response that addresses the infrastructure gap occasioned by the 34-year surge in population; government’s plan for tourism; open access to the 250 million strong market on the West African sub-region; potential to create job, and improvement in property value.

    Despite the relative success that have been achieved thus far in the area of road construction and rehabilitation in the state, government is not resting on its oars. New projects are being envisaged as captured in the 2016 budget. Therefore, considering the level of work done so far on our roads, in addition to several on-going commitments, it is expected that significant improvement will take place in road transportation across the state in the New Year. The implication of this is that the New Year would usher in greater prosperity for Lagos residents because it is a well acknowledged reality that improved infrastructure invariably improves the quality of life of the people.

    • Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy,  Alausa, Ikeja
  • Reducing carnage on roads

    Reducing carnage on roads

    The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has acquired breathalysers to, among others, check drunk-driving, reports ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    THIS year, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) is taking the slogan ‘Do not drink and drive’ beyond ‘Ember months.

    Last Tuesday, the corps showed the public it had the capacity to detect and punish drunk drivers, whose activities might constitute danger to themselves and threaten the safety of road users.

    Randomly, drivers were stopped by FRSC officers and tested with breathalysers, which test the breath for alcohol, drugs and other hard substances.

    Drivers were directed to blow air  into a disposable tube attached to the device and after a while, a reading of the breath was taken for alcohol and other driving impairing substances.

    For the corps, driving is a serious business and anyone who wants to engage in it, must be sober and “of the right frame of mind.”

    While no one takes an offence to  drinking, a driver who intends to drive, must stay away from alcohol and substances, such as kolanut, nescafe or nicotine as or risks arrest if he’s caught to be driving under their influence by the breathalyzer.

     

    New tools, old

    challenge

     

    Donating the breathalysers to the lead FRSC,  Managing Director/CEO, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Peter Ndegwa, said the company was pioneering responsible drinking, especially during the festive period to drive home the value of “responsible alcohol consumption”.

    He told consumers and motorists that drinking and driving do not mix.

    Two years ago, the Nigeria Breweries (NB) Plc, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

    Its Managing Director/CEO Nicolaas Vervelde, who was represented by Edem Vindah,  said the beer giant would have the responsible drinking campaign in four cities as part of its commitment to ensure that more Nigerians are safe.

    Test-running the tools at the Ojota end of the old Toll Gate on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway last week, FRSC Zonal Commander Charles Nse-Obong Akpabio said the breathalyser comes with modern features that could capture the vehicle particulars, number plate and driver’s licence details, and print the details of the infraction of any culprit.

    Akpabio, who represented the Corps Marshal/Chief Executive Officer Boboye Oyeyemi, said the exercise, which would be limited to Lagos for now, would run for three months, as part of a pilot research  being carried out by the agency to generate appropriate data on drunk driving.

    Akpabio reiterated the commitment of FRSC to arrest and prosecute any driver found driving on the highway under the influence of alcohol or other hard drugs.

    The device, according to him, would help the  FRSC detect drunk drivers as well as those operating under the influence of hard substances during the festive period and beyond.

    It would also help the agency build a reliable data base of drunk drivers across the country, especially Lagos. He said through it, the Corps hopes to establish that drunk driving, apart from over-speeding, is a major cause of accidents on the roads. He said over 75 per cent of road traffic crashes was caused by alcohol against the national road regulations – FRSC Establishment Act and National Highway Acts.

    He said: “We wanted to generate data to back up our claims on drunk driving as the lead cause of accidents on our roads. What we have for now is adequate only for Lagos and we hope that by the time we would be concluding this research in March, we would be able to duplicate this across the country.”

    Akpabio said the device would enable the Corps to reduce if not totally eradicate drunk driving, adding that the device is one of the adopted equipment and technique, jointly agreed to, and signed by the Corps and other stakeholders to sanitise the nation’s roads and prevent crashes that occurre as a result of drunk driving.

    He urged drivers to abstain from driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, saying anyone caught would be prosecuted and his vehicle impounded.

    A truck driver with Total Gas, Mr Oyedokun Bakare, thanked the FRSC for the initiative. He said the breathalyser will help reduce the level of alcohol and other related hard substances abuse.

    An officer at the Lagos Sector Command, who does not want to be mentioned said the research being conducted with the breathalysers had started and would continue till March. He added that some of the result of the earlier exercise were already being collated by the command and would end up generating a reliable data for the FRSC and others who may need it.

    He said the device would be randomly deployed on critical routes within the command, such as the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Lagos-Ikorodu road, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Mile 2-Badagry and the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway among others.

    “During these tests, more of which would be carried out especially during the festive season, we would randomly stop and test any driver, be he commercial or private car owner. We could stop a Danfo driver, a mini bus driver or luxury bus or truck or trailer driver for the test, or we might stop a private car driver to test his alcohol level. The idea is to ensure that we all stay alive and be responsible users of the road and not out to punish anyone,” he said.

     

    Other strategies

     

    For the FRSC, the increase in human activity especially during the festive season, dictates that drivers and other road users use the road more responsibly. However, because of the rush that goes with the season,  many drivers, driven  by the urge to make profit often flout traffic regulations, leading to accidents which lead to disabilities or loss of lives.

    Regarding the road as the people’s commonwealth, FRSC is out to enforce the regulations and ensure that all users conform to the rules and regulations guiding safe use of the roads at all times in order to reduce carnage.

    On assumption of office last year, Oyeyemi has increased the fight against road crashes and deaths as part of his commitment to rewrite the United Nations (UN) ugly road rating which puts Nigeria’s roads as the third most dangerous in the world.

    The FRSC began a series of capacity building trainings for various stakeholders with the intention of building a new crop of road ambassadors who would voluntarily comply with all road regulations.

    Oyeyemi began to push for the adoption of new strategies and through strategic partnership with the Organised Private Sector (OPS), the FRSC is acquiring new tools to respond to and combat the menace of road accidents.

    Apart from donations coming from Guinness Nigeria Plc, the UN and other multi-national agencies have been leading the pack in the training and retraining of FRSC personnel in the use of modern tools to reduce incidents of road carnage.

    Between June and December, the FRSC had taken the campaign for safer roads to the door steps of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), National Association of Transport Owners (NATO), the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) unit of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) and the independent trucks and fleet operators.

    Defending its singling out commercial vehicles as the first to be tackled, Oyeyemi  said with a mini-commercial bus carrying a minimum of 10 passengers, and a maxi buses carrying between 24 and 47 passengers, more casualties are often recorded daily through commercial vehicles than their private counterparts.

    He said with the official flag-off of this year’s Ember Months campaign with the theme: “Operation Sanity: Drive Safely into 2016,” the FRSC is poised to achieve a reduction in the accident baseline for last year. He said the commitment of the agency to ensure an accident free Yuletide celebration is unfailing adding that it would pursue this with the cooperation and support of all drivers and other stakeholders.

     

    Conclusion

     

    A safety expert and Executive Director of Safety Without Borders (SWB), Mr Patrick Adenusi, said the major headache of road users is the level of indiscipline.

    Adenusi, who identified lane violation, drunkenness, driving against traffic,  as some of the challenges working against safe roads, especially in urban centres, said a safer road would be achieved if the FRSC could tame the attitudes of drivers on the road.

    He praised the agency and all its partners for coming up with the new tool, adding that if this can be introduced, and penalties which include seizure of vehicles strictly enforced, it could go a long way in bringing sanity to the roads.

    Oyeyemi said time has come for the agency to come out hard on all those who deliberately break traffic laws. He said all unit commanders across the country have been mandated to ensure that the message is passed on to all raod users.

    In Lagos, as well as other sector commands and zonal commands, officers of FRSC has stepped up campaigns to ensure that road users make good use of the roads.

    He said the campaign entails drivers having a change of attitude through obedience to road traffic rules and share the road with other road users safely and defensively.

    He also challenged the drivers to take more than a passing interest in their health and guide against any hazards that might aggravate health issues such as poor eyesight, high blood pressure, diabetes, all of which he said are often associated with fatal road crashes.

    He charged drivers to be  defensive drivers and use the road more responsibly to ensure the safety of all road users.

  • Abia repairs roads

    Abia repairs roads

    As part of efforts to ensure that residents of Abia State and visitors expected to be in Aba and other parts of the state for commercial and leisure activities had a smooth ride on roads during and after the festive period, Abia State Government, through the Ministry of Works, has launched a road rehabilitation programme code named “Operation Zero Potholes on Abia Roads”.

    Recall that road users in Aba have been lamenting over the deplorable condition of state and federal roads in Aba, which they said, have caused many car owners to abandon their cars at home for commercial buses as they could no longer afford the frequent breakdown and cost of repairing their cars.

    In a chat with reporters at Eziukwu Road, Aba, venue of the inauguration exercise, Commissioner for Works, Mr. Eziuche Ubani revealed that the essence of the campaign was to ensure that residents of Aba and visitors using Abia roads at this festive period would heave a sigh of relief.

    According to Ubani, the road repair when completed would also help in reducing the traffic jam that motorists usually witnessed on major roads in Aba, especially during this festive period when human and vehicular movements would be on the increase.

    He reeled off some of the roads to be rehabilitated to include Hospital Road, St. Michaels, Jubilee; Bata to Brass Junction whose state is so bad for a very long time.

    Other roads include School Road, the whole of East, Queens’s road, St. Joseph’s Street, Cameroun Road, Okwunuka Street, Pound Road, York, Asa by Ngwa Road. Milverton, Georges, Eziukwu (up to Cemetery Market), Afikpo, Asa to Eziukwu Road and Umuahia-Ohafia Road.

    The commissioner also said work would soon begin on roads in Abia Central and Abia North Senatorial Districts, stressing that it was the desire of Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu-led administration to ensure that residents, visitors and Abians in the Diaspora who were expected to be in the state during the Yuletide would enjoy their Christmas celebration.

    “It is called “operation zero pothole” on major roads in Aba, Umuahia and other parts of the state because we have had issues with traffic because of the potholes on most of the roads.

    “We have been reconstructing some roads in Abia South, Abia Central and Abia North Senatorial zones but we want to repair some of these roads that are in terrible condition so that we can avoid the gridlock we have been experiencing in the past one year because of potholes.

    “What we want to achieve is to save some of the roads that have not failed completely while reconstruction works are ongoing on the ones that have failed totally. So, the Eziukwu is one of the roads that we are going to work on and we are also going to do that on a number of roads in Aba and Umuahia.

    “There is a de-silting component of this programme. We have the people who will do de-silting of drains right here. We have engaged them too. The de-silting of the drains will precede the construction work. So, they are working with the contractors.

    “We hope to have a better job than what we have in the past. I need to tell you that the kind of efforts that we are making has not been done in the past. This is pure reconstruction. The contractor is going to find out why this place keeps flooding and that is the essence of the programme.

    “What we have done as a departure from the past is that we get contractors to fix the road and fix them properly instead of giving it to individuals and after about three months, the roads become unusable again.

    “So, we want to see that we permanently repaired and rehabilitated those roads. We will restore the road architecture; when we through with that, we will mark them properly and put streetlights so that, from the onset of the rainy season, the people will have very good roads to drive on.

    “We also want to ensure that by the time the rainy season returns, we will not have the kind of gridlock caused by potholes on major roads such as Eziukwu, Azikiwe, East and other parts of the commercial city as the case may be. So, that is why we are here.”

  • Reducing carnage on roads

    Reducing carnage on roads

    The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has acquired breathalysers to, among others, check drunk-driving, reports ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    THIS year, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) is taking the slogan ‘Do not drink and drive’ beyond ‘Ember months.

    Last Tuesday, the corps showed the public it had the capacity to detect and punish drunk drivers, whose activities might constitute danger to themselves and threaten the safety of road users.

    Randomly, drivers were stopped by FRSC officers and tested with breathalysers, which test the breath for alcohol, drugs and other hard substances.

    Drivers were directed to blow air  into a disposable tube attached to the device and after a while, a reading of the breath was taken for alcohol and other driving impairing substances.

    For the corps, driving is a serious business and anyone who wants to engage in it, must be sober and “of the right frame of mind.”

    While no one takes an offence to  drinking, a driver who intends to drive, must stay away from alcohol and substances, such as kolanut, nescafe or nicotine as or risks arrest if he’s caught to be driving under their influence by the breathalyzer.

     

    New tools, old challenge

    Donating the breathalysers to the lead FRSC,  Managing Director/CEO, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Peter Ndegwa, said the company was pioneering responsible drinking, especially during the festive period to drive home the value of “responsible alcohol consumption”.

    He told consumers and motorists that drinking and driving do not mix.

    Two years ago, the Nigeria Breweries (NB) Plc, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

    Its Managing Director/CEO Nicolaas Vervelde, who was represented by Edem Vindah,  said the beer giant would have the responsible drinking campaign in four cities as part of its commitment to ensure that more Nigerians are safe.

    Test-running the tools at the Ojota end of the old Toll Gate on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway last week, FRSC Zonal Commander Charles Nse-Obong Akpabio said the breathalyser comes with modern features that could capture the vehicle particulars, number plate and driver’s licence details, and print the details of the infraction of any culprit.

    Akpabio, who represented the Corps Marshal/Chief Executive Officer Boboye Oyeyemi, said the exercise, which would be limited to Lagos for now, would run for three months, as part of a pilot research  being carried out by the agency to generate appropriate data on drunk driving.

    Akpabio reiterated the commitment of FRSC to arrest and prosecute any driver found driving on the highway under the influence of alcohol or other hard drugs.

    The device, according to him, would help the  FRSC detect drunk drivers as well as those operating under the influence of hard substances during the festive period and beyond.

    It would also help the agency build a reliable data base of drunk drivers across the country, especially Lagos. He said through it, the Corps hopes to establish that drunk driving, apart from over-speeding, is a major cause of accidents on the roads. He said over 75 per cent of road traffic crashes was caused by alcohol against the national road regulations – FRSC Establishment Act and National Highway Acts.

    He said: “We wanted to generate data to back up our claims on drunk driving as the lead cause of accidents on our roads. What we have for now is adequate only for Lagos and we hope that by the time we would be concluding this research in March, we would be able to duplicate this across the country.”

    Akpabio said the device would enable the Corps to reduce if not totally eradicate drunk driving, adding that the device is one of the adopted equipment and technique, jointly agreed to, and signed by the Corps and other stakeholders to sanitise the nation’s roads and prevent crashes that occurre as a result of drunk driving.

    He urged drivers to abstain from driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, saying anyone caught would be prosecuted and his vehicle impounded.

    A truck driver with Total Gas, Mr Oyedokun Bakare, thanked the FRSC for the initiative. He said the breathalyser will help reduce the level of alcohol and other related hard substances abuse.

    An officer at the Lagos Sector Command, who does not want to be mentioned said the research being conducted with the breathalysers had started and would continue till March. He added that some of the result of the earlier exercise were already being collated by the command and would end up generating a reliable data for the FRSC and others who may need it.

    He said the device would be randomly deployed on critical routes within the command, such as the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Lagos-Ikorodu road, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Mile 2-Badagry and the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway among others.

    “During these tests, more of which would be carried out especially during the festive season, we would randomly stop and test any driver, be he commercial or private car owner. We could stop a Danfo driver, a mini bus driver or luxury bus or truck or trailer driver for the test, or we might stop a private car driver to test his alcohol level. The idea is to ensure that we all stay alive and be responsible users of the road and not out to punish anyone,” he said.

     

    Other strategies

    For the FRSC, the increase in human activity especially during the festive season, dictates that drivers and other road users use the road more responsibly. However, because of the rush that goes with the season,  many drivers, driven  by the urge to make profit often flout traffic regulations, leading to accidents which lead to disabilities or loss of lives.

    Regarding the road as the people’s commonwealth, FRSC is out to enforce the regulations and ensure that all users conform to the rules and regulations guiding safe use of the roads at all times in order to reduce carnage.

    On assumption of office last year, Oyeyemi has increased the fight against road crashes and deaths as part of his commitment to rewrite the United Nations (UN) ugly road rating which puts Nigeria’s roads as the third most dangerous in the world.

    The FRSC began a series of capacity building trainings for various stakeholders with the intention of building a new crop of road ambassadors who would voluntarily comply with all road regulations.

    Oyeyemi began to push for the adoption of new strategies and through strategic partnership with the Organised Private Sector (OPS), the FRSC is acquiring new tools to respond to and combat the menace of road accidents.

    Apart from donations coming from Guinness Nigeria Plc, the UN and other multi-national agencies have been leading the pack in the training and retraining of FRSC personnel in the use of modern tools to reduce incidents of road carnage.

    Between June and December, the FRSC had taken the campaign for safer roads to the door steps of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), National Association of Transport Owners (NATO), the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) unit of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) and the independent trucks and fleet operators.

    Defending its singling out commercial vehicles as the first to be tackled, Oyeyemi  said with a mini-commercial bus carrying a minimum of 10 passengers, and a maxi buses carrying between 24 and 47 passengers, more casualties are often recorded daily through commercial vehicles than their private counterparts.

    He said with the official flag-off of this year’s Ember Months campaign with the theme: “Operation Sanity: Drive Safely into 2016,” the FRSC is poised to achieve a reduction in the accident baseline for last year. He said the commitment of the agency to ensure an accident free Yuletide celebration is unfailing adding that it would pursue this with the cooperation and support of all drivers and other stakeholders.

     

    Conclusion

    A safety expert and Executive Director of Safety Without Borders (SWB), Mr Patrick Adenusi, said the major headache of road users is the level of indiscipline.

    Adenusi, who identified lane violation, drunkenness, driving against traffic,  as some of the challenges working against safe roads, especially in urban centres, said a safer road would be achieved if the FRSC could tame the attitudes of drivers on the road.

    He praised the agency and all its partners for coming up with the new tool, adding that if this can be introduced, and penalties which include seizure of vehicles strictly enforced, it could go a long way in bringing sanity to the roads.

    Oyeyemi said time has come for the agency to come out hard on all those who deliberately break traffic laws. He said all unit commanders across the country have been mandated to ensure that the message is passed on to all raod users.

    In Lagos, as well as other sector commands and zonal commands, officers of FRSC has stepped up campaigns to ensure that road users make good use of the roads.

    He said the campaign entails drivers having a change of attitude through obedience to road traffic rules and share the road with other road users safely and defensively.

    He also challenged the drivers to take more than a passing interest in their health and guide against any hazards that might aggravate health issues such as poor eyesight, high blood pressure, diabetes, all of which he said are often associated with fatal road crashes.

    He charged drivers to be  defensive drivers and use the road more responsibly to ensure the safety of all road users.

  • Federal roads: Death traps in Southeast

    Federal roads: Death traps in Southeast

    For the first time in the history of Aba North and South Federal Constituency, the lawmaker representing the zone visited some federal roads to have firsthand information about their level of dilapidation. SUNNY NWANKWO reports that the lawmaker’s three-day inspection of the roads and some project sites in Aba presented a grieving situation

    It was not a pleasant moment for the lawmaker representing Aba North and South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Rotarian Ossy Prestige penultimate week.

    His three-day tour of Federal Government roads and some project sites in Aba and its environs presented a grieving situation. The roads, in particular, were in deplorable condition so much so that he could not hide his resentment over government’s inertia to enhance the well-being of the people.

    For an on-the-spot assessment of the nature of the roads, the lawmaker visited Asa-Ohabiam-Port Harcourt Road; Enugu-Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway, Aba-Ikot- Ekpene Expressway, Ovom-Azumini and Akpu-Aguwa-Pepple Street road gully erosion project site which is yet to be completed many years after the Federal Government had awarded contract for the ecological problem to be fixed, among others.

    Speaking with newsmen at the end of the tour, Prestige, who was visibly worried about his experience, said he didn’t know that the dilapidation of the federal roads and some other infrastructure was that awful. He was also surprised at the level of decay of other project sites he visited; including Ariaria International Market.

    Bothered about the negative impact the state of infrastructure in Aba would have on the economy of the state if drastic measures were not taken to address the situation, the lawmaker said he was going to invite members of the House Committee on Works to Aba as part of his efforts to further push for urgent attention of the Federal Government to the plight of Aba residents.

    He also reiterated his commitment to ensure that Aba was given a facelift, even as he said that business and economic activities would be rejuvenated in a city that was once noted for its ingenuity and interest in small and medium-scale enterprises.

    He said: “It is unfortunate that people who have represented the zone in the past left it to degenerate badly to the extent that people were forced to leave the city for neighbouring Akwa-Ibom State and other Southeast states where they feel is more conducive for their businesses.

    “When I moved the motion about the deplorable nature of roads in Aba at the floor of the House, I never knew that it was this bad. You are all witnesses to what we saw at Port Harcourt Road, Ariaria Market, Aba-Ikot-Ekpene Road, the Azumini and other places that we visited.

    “It is a clear pointer to the fact that there was the urgent need for accountability on what the constituency fund for Abia North and South was used for over the years. And to further push for the need of my constituents to be heard and their problems solved, I would be proposing for a visit to Aba by members of the House Committee on Works for them to see things for themselves. By so doing, they will appreciate that what I have been saying about Aba is not a fallacy but the truth; that Aba is in dire need of infrastructural development in order to bring back its glory.”

    Some of the residents who spoke to journalists described the visit of the lawmaker as apt; stressing that it was the first time a representative of the zone would come and feel the pulse of the people he is representing.

    They expressed the hope that the lawmaker would deliver to them the dividends of democracy for which he was elected.

  • Residents demand water, roads, jobs at town hall meeting

    Potable water, rehabilitation of roads and schools, insecurity, provision of street light, employment opportunities, flooding/erosion menace and the need for proper drainage were the major demands by residents when members of the Lagos State House of Assembly met their people in some of the 40 state constituencies of the state.

    At Lagos Mainland 2 Constituency, a constituent complained that the boreholes provided by the government at Iwaya-Yaba does not supply water, while pleading that the government should provide tricycle and motor cycles for ‘Areas Boys’ to get them engaged and reduce their menace in the society.

    In Somolu 2 Constituency, the Oba of Bariga, Oba Gbolahan Timson lamented the poor state of inner roads in the area, urging the government to quickly make available large car park to ensure that available roads were made free for vehicular traffic. He also requested for the establishment of markets in the area.

    At Eti Osa 1 Constituency, the constituents requested for primary/ secondary schools, transformers, security within the estates, small and medium-scale loan for their businesses, cemetery for the Muslim, health facility, roads and drainage to prevent flooding, law against drug and child abuse within the constituent.

    The theme of the stakeholders’ meeting was “Towards a Better Constituency Engagement”, and was designed to educate constituents on the duties of the legislators and what the constituents expect from their representatives.

    Addressing his constituents at Agege 1 Constituency,  Speaker Mudashiru Obasa revealed that the outcome of the meetings would be a major determinant of the direction the 2016 Budget will take, adding that it is the Assembly’s desire to deepen the democratic culture as well as facilitate participatory governance in the state.

    Talking to his people in Somolu 2 Constituency, Chief Whip, Hon. Rotimi Abiru said the parley was also aimed at deepening democracy, assuring that all the complaints and suggestions made by constituents would be addressed with the appropriate authorities, just as he assured that the Palmgroove-Pedro Road now under construction would be completed by the end of the year as the needed fund has since been released.

    Also addressing his constituents at Eti Osa 1 constituency, Kazeem Alimi said the assembly had always welcome the people’s opinions to develop the state. He promised them quality representation from him and urged them to help, support and participate with him in making  Eti Osa a better place.

    The lawmakers promised to make sure that all the demands are worked on and forwarded to the executive so that it can be captured in the next budget.

    Speaking on the activities of the current Assembly, the lawmakers said, since June 15 when the 8th Assembly was inaugurated, it has passed 28 resolutions “covering a broad range of socio-economic, political and other issues pertaining to the welfare of Lagosians, the progress of the state and the nation as a whole. We have settled communal clashes, played the Ombudsman’s role while not neglecting several petitions referred to us for mediation and resolutions.

     

  • Lagos to rehabilitate 471 roads by December

    Lagos to rehabilitate 471 roads by December

    Lagos state Public Works Corporation (LSPWC) has promised to rehabilitate 471 roads by the end of next month.

    About 282 of the roads, LSPWC General Manager Ayo Shodeinde said, had been completed, adding that work has begun on 189 roads which will be completed by next month.

    He said 117 of the roads belong to the Federal Government.

    Some of the roads being rehabilitated had been bad for up to 10 years, he said, adding: “When the governor came in, based on his promises to the people during the campaigns, he said the situation was unacceptable and we have been able to put many roads in shape.

    “We have done 282 roads since June 2015 till date. Anytime from now, we would start work on the 189 listed. We would work every day and night to ensure life is more comfortable for residents in the state.”

    He listed some of the roads rehabilitated as Metal Box Road, Acme Road inward Akilo, Ejigbo-Ikotun road, among others while some potholes were also fixed.

    Shodeinde said Alfa Nla/Capitol road in Agege, Brown Street in Oshodi, Okota road in Isolo, among others were being constructed.

    “We are doing the second asphalting on Ejigbo; the place is quite motorable now. The Ikotun-Ijegun road is 85 per cent completed because of the drainage system,” he said.

    Shodeinde said the exercise has reduced traffic congestion, pointing out that the public works gangs were on the road day and night.

    “The Governor is not sitting down; he wants all the roads in Lagos to be motorable. He wants the hard life that Lagosians are going through to be alleviated. He cannot stand Lagosians going through hardship.

    “People are testifying now that the traffic is moving. You know when the roads are good, it means economic growth, people will be able to move from one part of the state to another, transport their goods without stress, you will notice that even the hoodlums and pickpockets, they operate when there is gridlock, as far as gridlock that is being caused by potholes are concerned, we are on our feet to ensure that we put the road in order to reduce the traffic,” he said.

    He assured that by the end of December, the LSPWC would have rehabilitated more roads across the state.

    He urged the public to call 07098107021; 08023131820 and send also send enquiries@LSPWC-NG.com to draw attention to any bad road.

  • …water, roads, jobs top residents’ demands

    Potable water, rehabilitation of roads and schools, insecurity, provision of street light, employment opportunities, flooding/erosion menace and the need for proper drainage were the major demands when members of the Lagos State House of Assembly met their people.

    At Lagos Mainland 2 Constituency, a constituent complained that the boreholes provided by the government at Iwaya-Yaba does not supply water, while pleading that the government should provide tricycle and motor cycles for ‘Areas Boys’ to get them engaged and reduce their menace in the society.

    In Somolu 2 Constituency, the Oba of Bariga, Oba Gbolahan Timson lamented the poor state of inner roads in the area, urging the government to quickly make available large car park to ensure that available roads were made free for vehicular traffic. He also requested for the establishment of markets in the area.

    At Eti Osa 1 Constituency, the constituents requested for primary/ secondary schools, transformers, security within the estates, small and medium-scale loan for their businesses, cemetery for the Muslim, health facility, roads and drainage to prevent flooding, law against drug and child abuse within the constituent.

    The theme of the stakeholders’ meeting was “Towards a Better Constituency Engagement”, and was designed to educate constituents on the duties of the legislators and what the constituents expect from their representatives.

    Addressing his constituents at Agege 1 Constituency,  Speaker Mudashiru Obasa revealed that the outcome of the meetings would be a major determinant of the direction the 2016 Budget will take, adding that it is the Assembly’s desire to deepen the democratic culture as well as facilitate participatory governance in the state.

    Talking to his people in Somolu 2 Constituency, Chief Whip, Hon. Rotimi Abiru said the parley was also aimed at deepening democracy, assuring that all the complaints and suggestions made by constituents would be addressed with the appropriate authorities, just as he assured that the Palmgroove-Pedro Road now under construction would be completed by the end of the year as the needed fund has since been released.

    Also addressing his constituents at Eti Osa 1 constituency, Kazeem Alimi said the assembly had always welcome the people’s opinions to develop the state. He promised them quality representation from him and urged them to help, support and participate with him in making  Eti Osa a better place.

    The lawmakers promised to make sure that all the demands are worked on and forwarded to the executive so that it can be captured in the next budget.

    Speaking on the activities of the current Assembly, the lawmakers said, since June 15 when the 8th Assembly was inaugurated, it has passed 28 resolutions “covering a broad range of socio-economic, political and other issues pertaining to the welfare of Lagosians, the progress of the state and the nation as a whole. We have settled communal clashes, played the Ombudsman’s role while not neglecting several petitions referred to us for mediation and resolutions.