It would appear that the Lagos State government is fighting a losing battle in its efforts to curb the menace of trucks on the highways.

This impression is being reinforced by frequent accidents being recorded in the state recently, all pointing to the recklessness of some truck drivers.


Two weeks ago, a truck carrying iron sheets and rods was involved in an accident when it tried to overtake a car at Cement Bus/stop in Dopemu. The accident left a woman and her baby unconscious before they were revived at a near by hospital. This caused a gridlock on the road as a result of which commuters and motorists were stranded for hours.

Last Thursday, traffic was also brought to a standstill for about eight hours at the Jakande Bus-stop in the Ejigbo Local Government Council Development Area of Lagos State. Commuters and motorists were unable to link the road to their respective destinations.

Those mostly affected were residents of Jakande Estate, Iyana-Ejigbo and Ikotun. Many of them were stranded and had to resort to trekking. As at 11am, commuters were seen trekking to Oke-Afa and Pako bus-stops before they could get vehicles to their various destinations.

The traffic jam was said to have started around 5am and as at 11am, traffic officials were seen battling to find solution to the situation. However, it was business as usual for motorcyclists as they immediately hiked their fares from the usual N200 to between N300 and N500.

The gridlock was caused by collision between a truck with the inscription Tadlock Trans Company Limited, which carried some fairly used items popularly called Tokunbo and a pick-up with a foreign registration number W199 FBD which was trying to make a U-turn in front of the Texaco filling station located in the area.

The collision resulted in a serious damage to the drainage in front of the filling station while some of the items being carried by one of the vehicles were scattered on the high way. Vanguard Metro, however, learnt the driver who was the only one in the truck took to his heels as soon as he had a chance to do so, apparently afraid of the fate that will befall him should he be apprehended for causing the accident.

Eye witnesses said the incident happened around midnight on Wednesday while residents were greeted with the gridlock on Thursday morning on their way to their various places of work and business.

As at the time Vanguard Metro visited the area, rescue operators, LASTMA officials as well as men of the Nigeria Police Force were seen diverting the traffic as well as maintaining orderliness in the area. A towing vehicle was also being used to tow the truck from the scene of the accident

Save for the timely intervention of the Police, Okada riders could have engaged LASTMA officials and the rescue team in a serious face-off as they refused to yield to instruction from these authorities.

LASTMA Zonal Head in Ejigbo/Isolo who spoke with Vanguard Metro said his team received a signal around 12 midnight the previous day and immediately rushed to the scene. "When we got there, we found the truck inside the gutter and we had to pull it out to prevent further damages. Our job started since that midnight but could not be completed because the truck was so heavy. You can see that the slab in the gutter has broken into pieces," he said.

Area Commander of Area D, Mr. Adeolu Joan, who also poke with Vanguard Metro said: "I received the call in the early hours of today and had to rush to the scene to divert the traffic, if not, the situation could have been worse. It was chaotic, but thank God today is the market sanitation day, so a lot of people did not come out very early today, I imagine what it would have looked like if it's an ordinary day".

Continuing he said: "There was nothing wrong with the truck, but the accident occurred as a result of the driver's carelessness. He made an illegal U-turn at a sloppy area not minding the weight of the load he was carrying. Our men did not meet him here as he took to his heels immediately the accident happened making it difficult for anybody to know if he was injured or not. Thank God it happened in the night, imagine what could have happened if such a thing occurred at day time".

On the stubbornness of the Okada riders, Joan said: "Ejigbo is one of the local governments with the highest population of motorcyclists, so we have to apply a lot of wisdom to control them".

A commuter who gave her name as Mrs Bilesanmi said she never knew the cause of the gridlock until she got to the scene. "We thought it was the traffic light that was giving a wrong signal and we waited for hours until many of us resorted to trekking. I trekked from Iyana-Isheri to this place and the conductor did not refund my money. I stopped a bike and he asked me to pay N350 to Cele-Express, where would I have got such money to pay him," she asked helplessly.

It was a bad morning for Nike Ajomale as she lost her handset as she was trying to find her way to Pako Bus/stop. "I can't explain how it happened, all I know is I was late for work and my employer will surcharge me. I started trekking from NNPC; you can see that I'm already tired. The government should help us to find solution to the excesses of these trucks and tankers drivers because they're the cause of a lot of problems on the high ways," she said.

nigerians sef! must we always cry out to the government for everything. lets assume its a government that cares, what are they supposed to do in this case? ban all trucks and trailers?