IN TODAY’S VIEWPOINT, PENSIONERS FM TAKES A LOOK AT SOLUTIONS TO NIGERIA’S DEADLY PETROL TANKER ACCIDENTS. IT IS WRITTEN BY PENSIONERS FM RECENTLY
Residents of Suleja, Niger state will for years to come, relive the horror of January 18 this year.
A tanker conveying about 60,000 liters of premium motor spirit overturned at Dikko junction, and exploded while its content was being transferred into another.
About 98 people including those scooping fuel from the overturned tanker were burnt to death while dozens sustained injuries
Just days later, amidst the mourning and gloom over the loss of lives in Niger state, another heart rendering incident was recorded in Enugu state on January 25, with 18 casualties burnt beyond recognition, and 10 others injured.
The accident happened along the Enugu-Onitsha expressway after the petrol tanker lost control and rammed into 17 vehicles, and burst into flames,
The foregoing is just one incident too many in cases of fuel tanker accident and explosion the country has experienced in the last one or more decade.
On 15 October, 2024, a fuel tanker exploded in Majiya, Jigawa state, Nigeria, killing 209 people and injuring 124 others.
The driver was said to have lost control and the tanker somersaulted and spilled fuel into a drainage ditch.
In July 2023, at least eight people lost their lives after a fuel tanker exploded in Ondo state as residents were trying to siphon petrol out of it.
The tanker had been involved in an accident leading to it to veering off the road and toppling on its side.
Between January 2009 and October 2024, a total of 169 petrol tanker accidents and explosion, with about 1,613 fatalities occurred.
According to the federal road safety commission, in 2020 alone, fuel tankers accidents resulted in 535 casualties.
Often, not just only lives were lost, properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.
These tragedies are not divorced from tankers tilting and spilling their content, collision with other vehicles, brake failure and the likes.
Time has come to mitigate this perennial tanker explosion death trolls.
Government should hasten road rehabilitation across the country.
It is equally vital to put mechanism in place for on-the-spot inspection of tankers before take-off from fuel depots.
Considering the high rate of accidents on the nation’s highways, it is high time the federal road safety commission, FRSC, enforced the use of speed limiters.
This would serve to put tanker drivers who want to engage in excessive speeding in check.
And any tanker driver found culpable of taking alcohol while at the wheel should be appropriately sanctioned, with possibility of withdrawal of driver’s license for a specified duration.
Nigerians who can afford it should start considering battery or solar powered vehicles as alternatives.
This would to some extent reduce excessive dependence on fuel which would in turn reduce the volume of tanker ferrying fuel on roads.
That viewpoint took a look at solutions to Nigeria’s deadly petrol tanker accidents
