Amalgamation of Truckers, NPA, FRSC, others Embark on Safety Campaign in Lagos

Following the rising incidences of containers falling off the trucks and killing road users as witnessed in recent times, particularly in Lagos State, the Amalgamation of Container Truck Owners Association of Nigeria, ACTOAN, on Monday organized a safety campaign in Lagos to sensitize truck drivers on safety precautions so as to forestall frequent falling of containers on the highways.

The Safety Campaign with the theme, “Zero Tolerance To Falling Of Containers On The Roads”, was organized in conjunction with the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Vehicle Inspection Officers, VIO, Federal Road Safety Commission and the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency, LASTMA.

The Campaign which kicked off from the Association of Maritime Truck Owners, AMATO Secretariat in Apapa, Lagos made a brief stop over at the Nnewi Building, Apapa Wharf gate where truckers were addressed before moving on to MPS Ijora Olopa Pregate/truck park, EMOT Terminal Ijora, Lillypond Pregate Transit Park and terminating at Danlami Park Marine Bridge.

Speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the safety campaign, the Secretary, Association of Maritime Truck Owners, AMATO, Mr. Bala Mohammed disclosed that they embarked on the campaign to sensitize truckers on the need to adhere to road safety precautions in order to bring to the barest minimum the rate at which containers were falling on the roads and killing and maiming innocent road users in Lagos State.

Mohammed called on all members of the trucking community to comply with minimum safety standard for trucks and to ensure drivers have valid driver’s licence. He further urged them ensure that containers twist locks were being applied after loading container to prevent container from falling and make use of container belt.

“We admonished them to stop overloading their trucks, drivers should not drink when driving, obey traffic signals and stop over speeding, among others”, he added.

On the choice of the FRSC, VIO and LASTMA for the collaboration, the AMATO Scribe explained that “We chose the organisations because they are saddled with the responsibility of truck and road safety. They are also in a position to sensitize our members on the dos and donts on the road.”

On his part, the Unit Commander, FRSC, Apapa Unit Command, Mr. Sikiru Aduloju observed that although they had been carrying out sensitization programmes for truckers, they had to embark on this one as a result of the prevailing incidents in town lately having discovered that some of the truckers don’t latch their containers on the trucks, causing the container to fall along the road and killing people.

“But this time around, we were able to, in conjunction with AMATO, VIO and LASTMA sensitized virtually all the parks in Apapa. We were there to tell them the disadvantage of not latching their trucks and I know that with what we have done today, definitely, it’s going to go a long way in curbing incessant falling of containers on the highway.

“We told them a lot things that they have not heard before and they asked a lot of questions. We also told them that they have to latch their containers because if it fails, apart from killing people, they are also going to lose their job. They were very keen to listen to everything that we said today. You know in FRSC, we have a lot of medium of dispensing all this information through the media and we have been going from park to park sensitizing them as well as carrying out a lot of enforcement”, he said.