Towards legislation on road usage

The state of roads in Nigeria has remained a major concern to motorists and commuters. Thousands of lives have been lost to road accidents across the country while, thousand others were maimed and remain disabled for the rest of their lives. Little wonder why road construction is a major political campaign tool for politicians. They […]

The state of roads in Nigeria has remained a major concern to motorists and commuters. Thousands of lives have been lost to road accidents across the country while, thousand others were maimed and remain disabled for the rest of their lives.
Little wonder why road construction is a major political campaign tool for politicians. They seldom come with pledges to construct roads for communities so as to woo their votes. But unfortunately, the existing dilapidated roads were neither fixed nor, new ones constructed.
In Yobe state however, the pledge to construct a 300 kilometer Trans Sahara road to link 200 communities in six local government areas is coming to reality with about 70 per cent of the project achieved.
The road which spans from Kanama to Machina in the sand dune is already increasing the volume of trade especially in livestock and crops in the border communities with Niger republic.
Sadly, as work progresses on the project, over loaded trailers constitute serious threat to the roads even before their completion.
According to Alhaji Sirajo Wakil, the state commissioner for works, trailers hauling over 120 tons of goods ply the newly constructed roads against the 70 tons maximum requirement thereby threatening the roads.
“It is sad that there is no regulation on haulage and use of roads in
Nigeria. The roads are constantly abused and short lived  due to unchecked activities of transporters.”
He threatened to sponsor a bill to the state assembly to legislate and promulgate a law on usage of roads constructed by the state government.
To benefitting communities of the project, the threat was a welcome development so as to save the roads from abuse by reckless transporters.
Ali Modu, a resident of Kafiya village said, when the state government announced the proposal to construct the road, the communities received the news with skepticism “we initially doubted government untill when we saw work commenced on the project and, now that it has come to fruition, it will be unwise for government to allow this road abused and destroyed within a short period of time. We are just lucky to have this road, we may not be lucky to have the road quickly repaired if allowed to be destroyed by the trailers”.
A supervisory engineer also said less than 24 hours after laying asphalt on the road, over loaded trailers insist on plying the roads thereby causing bleed on the road. He narrated  the ordeal of the construction firm with the transporters after blocking the roads.
It is imperative for the federal government to check the excesses of transporters who transport large volume of goods by road beyond the capacity of the roads and the vehicles,  if we are committed to curbing loss of lives due to bad roads.
In advanced countries and even less advanced others, the haulage of heavy goods like cement, petroleum products and metals were done via cargo planes and railway system of transportation which had grossly improved the lives of roads, reduced rate of accidents and deaths on the highways. Ethiopia is a good example in Africa.
To support the proposal for the road usage law, the Yobe commissioner for works said “We cannot afford to expend billion of Naira on the roads only to be abused and destroyed by transporters overloading their trucks beyond the capacity of the roads thereby causing defects on bridges and the highways”.
This initiative by Yobe state government to promulgate a law regulating haulage of goods and usage of the roads to save lives of people and the roads will be a good example for other state governments that expend huge resources to construct these roads.
One may find reason to concur with the Commissioner who recommended the re-introduction of toll gates on the highways to weigh trucks plying roads across the country to ensure that haulage of goods on the highways do not exceed the recommended limit to save lives of the people and lifespan of the roads.
It will be an excellent meeting point for the duo of Raji Babatunde Fashola and Chibudum Ameachi, ministers of works and transport respectively to fashion out a long standing policy that will improve transport system in
Nigeria and, save the carnage on the highways claiming lives daily in the country.
The clamor for change, our agitation and support for Fashola and Ameachi to be appointed as ministers in the Buhari administration shall not be vain.
Muhammed can be reached on [email protected]