- Gives 30-day ultimatum for road worthiness
Moshood Adebayo
The Lagos State Government has restricted movement of fuel tankers to designated trailer route in the state.
The government also gave a 30-day ultimatum to all tankers and containers coming into the state to obtain road worthiness.
These are fallouts of the tragic tanker explosion on Otedola Bridge, Ojodu Berger Area of the state which claimed several lives and property last Thursday.
The state government made the disclosures at a press conference jointly addressed by the state Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Ladi Lawanson and his counterparts in Information and Strategy, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Mr. Seye Oladejo and heads of some government agencies after a meeting with stakeholders in the transportation sector, yesterday.
Relevant stakeholders who attended the briefing were the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), National Association of Transport Operators (NATO), Container Truck Owners Association of Nigeria, among others.
“As an immediate response to the latest incident, the Lagos State government, hereby, announces the following measures: Fuel tankers are, hereby, directed to ply the designated trailer route, that is, Apapa-Oworonshoki Expressway via Ogudu to Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
“All tankers and containers coming into Lagos State, henceforth, are directed to obtain the Ministry of Transportation Certificate of Road Worthiness, at any of our centres within the next 30 days, while new centres along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will be established, to quickly to cope with the expected demand for this service.” Lawanson said.
He listed the 10 centres currently available to process the applications to include Berger, Ojodu; Odogunyan, Ikorodu; Agric/Ishawo Road, Ikorodu; Worksyard, PWD, Shogunle; NCI, Gbagada; VIS Yard, Oko-Afo, Badagry; VIS Yard, Ayobo-Ipaja; Test Centre, Badagry; VIS Yard, Epe and VIS Yard, Oko-Oba Abattoir.
Also, all tankers and containers coming into Lagos State are directed to obtain the Ministry of Transportation certificate of road worthiness at any of our centres within the next 30 days, while new centres along the Lagos –Ibadan Expressway will be established quickly to cope with the expected demand for this service.
“Fuel tankers are, hereby, directed to ply the designated trailer route, that is, Apapa-Oworonshoki Expressway via Ogudu to Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The commissioner added that the state government will scale up awareness campaign to persuade all vehicle owners in Lagos State to obtain MOT Road Worthiness Certificate.
“We, hereby, call on motorists and the general public to join hands with us to prevent avoidable deaths due to the presence of vehicles unfit to ply the roads. Let us protect each other by asking our friends to save lives by obtaining their road worthiness certificates,’’ he said.