BEYOND THE REHABILITATION OF THE FORCEFULLY EVICTED “SICK TENANTS” ON THE ROAD

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PREFACE

My tower of strength to bringing this work to birth was born out of the story reported by the Punch Newspaper on Sunday, February 19, 2012 titled; “Accident claims three lives, 39 vehicles”, a tragedy that occurred at Mile Two, near Festac Town, in Lagos, Nigeria

Though as reported, this accident was caused by a petrol laden truck which lost control but the catastrophic effect was spurred by the fleet of petrol tankers and trailers parked by the side of the road.

However, the Tuesday, May 8, 2012 Guardian brought forth a respite to me courtesy the headline that read “Relief as tankers quit Oshodi-Apapa road”. The eviction of these “sick tenants” was made possible by the governor of Lagos State whom paid the area an unscheduled visit three weeks ago and gave them “the petrol tankers, trailers and trucks sickly wrongly parked by the side of the road” a 7 day ultimatum to vacate the area. But about 60 of the over 2500 “sick tenants” disregarded the ultimatum not until the wee hours of the morning of Monday, May 7, 2012 when these sick tenants were forcefully evicted.

At this juncture, what matters most is not just getting these trucks and trailers off the road but providing an alternative abode for them to ensure that they are efficiently rehabilitated and by this means, also being synonymously beneficial to the government.

This is the mainstay of this work.

The Sick Tenants on the Road

Due to the danger posed by these trucks over the years, the recent eviction of these trucks was meant to have been complemented by the imposition of heavy sanctions on every truck evicted so as to serve as a deterrent to others that may in the future consider being sick tenants.

The eviction of these trailers from the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway have brought about a new face lift to the road and it is an action that should not be limited to this area but expediently extended to other areas, notably the Lagos – Ibadan expressway, the founding abode of this sickness that transcended to other areas.

During their transient on the road, the annoyance thrown up by these sick tenants on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway was evident in the regular call and plea for their eviction which unfortunately fell on deaf ears. But the recently well executed eviction is a welcome development that deserves a wholehearted commendation to the government of Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.

Prior to the Monday 7 May, 2012 eviction of the petrol tankers, the huge bottlenecks caused by the continuous increase in the number of the trucks, trailers and petrol tankers that were illicitly indiscriminately parked on the road was responsible for a number of negativities encompassing; deaths, accident, unnecessary delay in the time taken for one to get to ones destination and tiredness during work hours. To this end, for example, as reported in the Guardian Newspaper, due to the fleet of trucks and trailers along the Oshodi-Apapa expressway, a 30mins journey became 3hours.

This seals the fact that no wonder the absence of these sick tenants on the road was a huge sigh of relief to people within the neighbourhood as the discomfort had finally been relinquished.

However, due to the incessant lapses by the government with regards to its inability to consistently implement its frown at misdemeanour and maintain certain laws; for example, the imposition of helmets usage on commercial motorcycle riders (popularly referred to as Okada) and his passenger after a handful of months got dwindled until finally getting fizzled out would make it to be too early for one to breathe a sigh of relief on the sick tenants’ eviction. This further entails that rather than get jubilant over this eviction, it is would be expediently wise for one to suspend such sigh of relief until the next 8months or more as this time frame would determine the level of government effectiveness at not closing its eyes this time around.

These said, the foundation to this work is not with regards to the eviction of the sick tenants on the road but to make some suggestions on concrete steps the government can kick off and implement that would go a long way in opening the eyes of the government to the benefits it can gain from this eviction.

Gains from the Rehabilitation of the Evicted “Sick Tenants”

It is one thing to stop the occurrence of misdemeanours and it is another thing to employ the necessary measures and actions to ensure that these misdemeanours are completely averted.

At this juncture, one question repeatedly rings my mind, a question that is driven towards the productive eviction of these tenants, a question that would serve as an added source of revenue to the government and lastly, a question that would ensure the stringent possibility of ensuring that such unnecessary traffic and avoidable accidents are made not to transpire. Having asked these questions, the million dollar question is; what next after the eviction of the “sick tenants” on the road?

“What next after the eviction of the “sick tenants?” goes beyond the initial act of evicting them, it is a question that is foundational to their eviction being utterly successful due to the many advantages it attracts.

With regards to the aforesaid, the following measures should be implemented to effect the appropriate rehabilitation of the once upon a time “sick tenants” on the road;

1. The provision of a large parking space, not just at one location but strategically and economically spread across the states of the federation for easy access and proximity so that the trailers, trucks and petrol tankers can easily access them whenever the need arises and have no excuse for illicitly having their vehicles parked on or by the side of the road.

To this end, the parking lot through the parking lot service should be statutorily created to serve only the big sized vehicles and should be appropriately named (e.g. The Lagos State Government Big Vehicle Parking Lot Corporation) by the Lagos State or other government that would deem this necessary to be implemented. But due to the need to avoid a near somewhat duplication of government agencies having somewhat of a similar responsibilities, the government could make this parking lot service a responsibility in an already existing corporation, for example the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) in Lagos State.

2. An effective petrol tanker/trailer towing service provided by the Lagos State government or perhaps a responsibility undertaken by the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) as earlier pointed out in the preceding paragraph. This is to forestall the illicit parking and nonchalant breakdown of these big vehicles by the driver concerned.

To this respect, for example a tanker that is found wanting of contravening the law as regards illicitly parking by the side of the road would be towed to the parking lot and made to pay a heavy fine to the tune of 5 times more than what it ought to have paid for not humbly getting parked in the parking lot and other punishments deemed by the government. In addition, in the case of a breakdown, the nonchalant act by the affected car owner for not informing the government would also get the car owner rightly sanctioned.

This brings to note the importance of the government to have an effective towing service for the entirety of its citizens and not just limited to these big vehicles. The purpose of this is to ensure that issues of a vehicle breakdown on the road can be forwarded by the vehicle owner to the government without the car owner getting sanctioned nor somewhat unnecessarily shylocked by the government but rather attended to by the government having made payment for the service rendered as against the imposition of fines. The reason for this is due to the fact that currently a broken down vehicle on the road in Lagos upon being sighted by the LASTMA officials is towed to their office and the owner made to pay heavy fines. Added to this, Lagos State does not have an efficient towing service to efficaciously cater for all complaints that would be made to the government with respect to a vehicular breakdown.  

These said, rather than being bullish, as earlier stated the right approach by the government is to create an independent towing service or perhaps make this a department in the LASTMA which would be tagged with the responsibility of ensuring that cars broken down on the road are efficiently towed to the mechanic work shop of the car owner, the residence of the car owner or perhaps any location desired by him or her for as long as it is within the jurisdiction of the state where the breakdown occurs, for example, Lagos State. To this end, a toll free line would be provided to receive complaints by individuals that find themselves in such situation.

And if fines are to be imposed, it would only be based on the fact that the car owner was nonchalant and failed to bring to the knowledge of the government the breakdown of his or her vehicle when and immediately it occurred.

3. With respect to recommendation “1”, the parking lot would definitely not come free and as thus the tankers patronizing the parking service by the government (Federal, State or Local) or state within the jurisdiction it is enjoying the service would be charged for the service yearly, annually or monthly as stated and dependent on the agreement reached between the government and the owner company of the tanker.

In addition, due to the titanic benefit the parking lot service would magnet to the government, it is pivotal for the government to work towards ensuring that this parastatal or somewhat independent body of an already existing state service agency, for example LASTMA is corrupt free so as to dash away the chances of corruption being diffused from other sectors, parastatals and agencies to the parking lot agency or sub-agency as the case may be.

It is no contemplation, the titanic financial benefit the continuously effective rehabilitation of the once upon a time “sick tenants” on the road would fetch to the Lagos State Government due to the fact that there are so many existing oil companies without the right sized parking space to appropriately cater for all its tankers; there are so many newly founded oil companies that do not have the financial power to get a parking space to park all the oil tankers and trucks that they have; added to the numerous yet to be founded oil companies that would definitely need the parking lot service.

These all said, the effective rehabilitation of the “sick tenants on the road and subsequent prevention of the outbreak of more “sick tenants” parked by the side of the road is strongly rooted in an efficient implementation of this paper work and all other works, suggestions and measures as deemed expedient by the government at all levels to implement.

This is due to the fact that the benefits to be enjoyed would be contributory to the economic development of Lagos State, other States of the federation, transcending to the nation as a whole due to it serving as a source of income to the government.

Also, the averting of death by such carelessness and very avoidable accident would transpire.

Eko oni baje!!!

REFERENCES

www.punchng.com/news/accident-claims-three-lives-39-vehicles/

“Relief as tankers quit Oshodi-Apapa road”, (May 8, 2012), The Guardian, Nigeria.

DISCLAIMER

Asides the 2 referenced stories, this work was carried out by the writer without being researched. It is however pivotal to point out that the points, suggestion, phrases and entirety of the write up are stated from the ideas of the writer.

Plagiarism is utterly frowned at. If the words and illustrations pointed out are to be adopted in subsequent works by other individuals, encompassing an extraction or a further build up on this work by other writers or in the course of a lecture/seminar delivery, referencing the writer will be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

Taiwo, Kehinde Oluwaseyi (12 May, 2012)