Tanker, truck drivers damaging new construction on Lagos-Ibadan expressway – Official

The official said four previous meetings with the truck drivers and owners did not achieve the desired results hence the need for another meeting.

The constant presence of articulated trucks parking indiscriminately on the Ogere section of the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project is damaging new construction work on the highway, Funsho Adebiyi, Coordinating Director, Highway Construction and Rehabilitation in Nigeria, has said.

During an inspection tour of the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan Expressway rehabilitation and reconstruction project on Saturday, Mr Adebiyi re-emphasised the Federal government’s commitment to taming the incessant gridlock and truck menace on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

He lamented the constant presence of articulated trucks parking indiscriminately on the Ogere section of the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project damaging new construction work on the highway.

“You see trailers in their hundreds park on the road shoulders we are just repairing,” he said.

“Some of them are not parked empty they are carrying as much as 900 bags of cement and they are abandoned there on the road shoulder.”

Mr Adebiyi said the federal government was reconvening another tripartite meeting.

He said those being invited to the meeting included the Lagos, Ogun and Oyo state governments, as well as truck drivers and owners, traffic regulatory agencies, among others.

He said drastic steps must be taken to tackle the problem in each state in conjunction with their governments.

According to Mr Adebiyi, apart from the dead weight of the parked trucks which causes quick road degeneration, the vehicles are usually repaired on the road, thereby spilling petroleum products on the highway.