OrderPaperToday – The Senate today resolved to invite the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over the recent petrol tanker explosion that rocked Lagos state.
The rationale for the invitation according to the red chamber is to find a legislative solution which will ensure that mandatory safety checks are put in place to ascertain the condition of the tanks and the road-worthiness of vehicles that haul petroleum products across the country.
The motion on the tanker explosion was sponsored by Senator Gbenga Ashafa (APC, Lagos) who revealed that at least 12 persons were killed in the explosion while over 50 vehicles were destroyed.
He added that similar incidents have occurred in recent times in Lagos and other parts of the country including Niger and Anambra states while lamenting that such disasters are man-made and preventable.
“There seems to be a trend of preventable human error and lack of road worthiness as the prevalent causes of these life threatening incidents,” Ashafa said as he urged the government to provide alternative transport means and restrict the movement of oil tankers to designated routes.
Contributing to the debate, Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta) expressed sadness over the incident in Lagos and suggested prayers as a means of bringing an end to mass deaths across the country.
According to Manager, “So many Nigerians have died in the most uncommon way these days. I want to believe that everybody here, Christians and Muslims have to pray or dedicate a Friday for Muslims to pray and a Sunday for Christians to pray for Nigeria.
“People are dying in their thousands in the most uncommon way and it is becoming frightening.”
The red chamber observed a minute silence for victims of the incident while urging relevant agencies to corporate with state governments to ensure the implementation of traffic laws.
The Senate also called for a thorough investigation into the latest mishap even as it urged the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to accelerate the development of trailer parks and installation of way bridges to manage trailer movement on the road.
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