The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Sunday reiterated its total ban of petroleum tanker drivers from embarking on night journeys across the country from Monday, Dec.19.
Boboye Oyeyemi, the FRSC Corps Marshal, told newsmen in Lagos that efforts had been put in place to impound any truck found contravening the order.
According to him, the ban is to promote safe petroleum haulage in the country.
“No tanker should be seen on the road at night, we need to find solutions to incessant crashes of tankers on the road.
“Beneficial as petroleum sector is to the nation, safe haulage remains FRSC concern.
“There is a problem and we have solutions to them, no more night journeys for petroleum products as from Monday, Dec. 19, enough is enough.
“The effects of crashes are quite unquantifiable on human life, the environment and to the economy,” Oyeyemi said.
The FRSC boss also said that a crash involving a tanker laden with petrol would lose about N50million being the cost of its contents and the vehicle.
Oyeyemi said that many crashes that happened at night had also caused severe damage to people and the community.
He said that apart from the lives lost, number of houses, shops, farm and other investment were usually engulfed in flames during a crash involving fuel tankers.
The Corps Marshal added that such incident had portrayed the nation in bad light in the comity of civilised nations.
Oyeyemi said that the dimension and scale of devastation caused by crashes involving petroleum tankers was evident in its multiplier-effects on the society.
According to him, there are existing laws and policies of government that are sufficient in tackling the problem if every stakeholder complies.
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