Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has described the frequent petroleum tanker explosion and fire incidents as a national scandal caused by indifference to safety standards.
He stated this while expressing sadness over the death of 23 people in the petroleum tanker explosion in Lokoja, Kogi State.
He said the deaths as confirmed by the Federal Road Safety Commission, “represents another disturbing and saddening incident in the litany of tragedies that have befallen our country.”
Reacting to the incident which claimed the lives of travellers, school children, bystanders, including some students of Kogi State Polytechnic, President Buhari said that “I am seriously worried about the frequency of these unfortunate and large scale tragedies in the country which cause needless deaths.”
In a statement by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari said “these frequent incidents that result in loss of lives and property are a national scandal caused by our indifference to safety standards.”
He insisted that “many accidents are preventable if proper proactive and precautionary measures are put in place or properly observed as routine policies.”
The President regretted that “ours is a country where we move on whenever tragedies occur instead of taking preventive safety measures to forestall future calamities.”
Buhari called on the country’s transport authorities, traffic and road management agencies as well as law enforcement officials to sit up and enforce safety standards with more seriousness, adding that “refusal to do the right thing can cause potential tragic problems that harm innocent people.”
According to him, “Nigeria is not having a shortage of laws and regulations, but our problem is lack of zeal to enforce those laws and regulations for the sake of public safety.”
He condoled with Kogi State government and the families of the victims of the tragedy.