Following the incessant collapse of trucks carrying petroleum products in Anambra State in recent times, including one which happened in Onitsha Thursday, the Anambra State Government has restricted the time which vehicles laden with petroleum products can move in the state.
According to a statement in Awka by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba, such vehicles can be allowed to move within Anambra State only from 8pm to 5am with effect from Saturday, November 2, 2019.
Adinuba noted that the restriction was to enable agencies like the Anambra State Fire Service, the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Civil Defence Corps, the Anambra Traffic Management Agency and indeed all other security, law enforcement and safety agencies to respond effectively and in good time to emergencies created by such accidents which sometimes result in conflagrations, as was the case in Onitsha on Wednesday, October 16, 2019, when a tanker laded with a petroleum product fell on the Enugu-Onitsha Highway and caused a fire that spread up to Ochanga Market through the open drainage.
He disclosed that the Anambra State command of the Nigeria Police Force and all other security agencies had been directed to religiously enforce the restriction order on the movement of trucks carrying petroleum products in the state.
“They have also been directed to ensure that such vehicles do not exceed the speed limit of 90 kilometres per hour.
“Any violation of either the time restriction order or the speed limit will be punished accordingly. The protection of the life and asset of every person in Anambra State cannot be compromised.
“All stakeholders, including oil marketers, workers, tanker drivers and indeed concerned persons in the downstream oil sector are urged to bear with the state and help to adhere to this regulation which is made strictly in the overriding public interest”, he stated.
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