Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna state has decried the indiscriminate parking of trucks and trailers along Kaduna highways, noting that 58 fatalities were recorded along Kaduna – Zaria highway between January and June 2019.
Addressing the Truck Transit Park (TTP) North West Sensitisation Rally in Kaduna, Governor el-Rufai, who was represented by the state Commissioner for Public Works and Infrastructure, Hajiya Balaraba Aliyu Inuwa said there is need for articulate vehicles and trucks to embrace truck transit parks, to improve safety of the highway and safe delivery of goods.
The rally with the theme: “Truck Transit Park: A Panacea for Crash-Free Haulage Operations in Nigeria” was organised by the Federal Road Safety Corps in collaboration with the Nigeria Shippers Council.
According to el-Rufai, “this initiative is very important because the purpose is on safe transit of haulage across the country. Transport impacts on economic and social development of the country. Due to parking on the road, we have had great human cost because of the ongoing construction of Abuja – Kaduna – Kano highways and tankers parking on the road.
“Between January and May 2019, we had 58 fatalities on the Kaduna – Zaria highway because of accidents. It is important that this issue is handled swiftly, in collaboration with other stakeholders we set up a taskforce on Kaduna – Zaria highway. Now we have another one for Kaduna – Abuja highway.
“We are determined to address the indiscriminate parking of trucks in Mararaba Jos and Tafa. Mararaba has reached advanced stage, Tafa is ongoing. The park in Mararaba Jos will have capacity for 500 trailers but the one in Tafa will hold 200 trucks when completed,” the governor said.
The Corps Marshall, Boboye Oyeyemi said there are 25 locations for truck transit parks across the country including seven in the Northwest. Oyeyemi, who was represented by the Assistant Corps Marshall, Victor Nwokolo said the collaboration is to ensure the safety of haulage operation in Nigeria.
“We are sensitising the stakeholders on the need to use the transit park wherever it is provided. We also urge relevant agencies to provide transit parks. The sensitisation include even maintenance of delivery vehicles to reduce breakdown of vehicles and crashes.”
The Executive Secretary, Chief Executive of Nigeria Shippers Council, Hassan Bello, who was represented by Mr Akin Makinde said, “we used to have lots of crashes and fatalities and loss of goods, we collaborated with Federal Road Safety Corps for us to create transit parks, to enable the drivers rest and reduce crashes and ensure that cargos get to their destination safely.”
