Niger government on Thursday says it would enact law to ban overweight petrol trucks on the Minna-Suleja road and other existing roads across the state.
Gov. Abubakar Bello of Niger, disclosed this when he visited the scene of August 30 petrol truck explosion, said that government would not longer tolerate the pressure put on the roads as a result of overloading by trucks.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that six people lost their, several vehicles and shops burnt down in a patrol tanker explosion around Diko-junction on Abuja-Kaduna highway to sympathise with the victims.
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Bello said that trucks carrying products above 33,000 litres would be ban from plying all roads within the state, adding any fuel tanker that park their vehicles within communities would be made to pay N500,000 as penalty.
He said that government had spent a lot of money in fixing and maintaining the roads, but were still in deplorable state as a result of pressure from over weights fuel tankers plying the roads.
“We have spent a lot of money on Federal roads in the state and less than five per cent of them are motorable, We are one step forward and two steps backward.
“The Minna-Bida and Minna-Suleja which are the only motorable roads presently being used by these trucks are getting worst everyday because of the force on them.
“These roads after maintaining them get bad again not because of the numbers of trucks plying them, but because of the weights of the trucks.
The governor urged the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) to regulate their drivers against overloading petroleum products to 60,000 to 70,000 litres.
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He noted that most of the trucks park with loaded fuel indiscriminately by the road side and within communities.
The governor also visited the Emir of Suleja, Malam Auwal Ibrahim, where he commiserated with him over the incident and said that government would enact law banning over weights trucks from plying the roads within the state.
One of the injured person, Ahmad Mohammed, said that the truck driver was warned not to park his vehicle at that particular spot, but insisted on parking there.
“After he parked his vehicle, the truck over turned and fuel started pouring out. I was trying to help one of our drivers to move his car away from the spot but it caught fire immediately,” he said. (NAN)
