Date: 2017-10-16

I travelled from Ilorin, Kwara State to Zaria, Kaduna State, last week. It was a 14-hour journey. The road was fairly good until we got to the River Niger bridge. But before we got to the Niger bridge, I saw a seemingly unending line of tankers and heavy-duty trailers.

I counted over 200 tankers and heavy-duty trailers. It led to a military check point which, however, did not cause a holdup. After we left the military checkpoint, I saw another long line of heavy-duty vehicles. This time, I counted 229 vehicles.

The River Niger bridge was in a deplorable condition. The road on the bridge is so degraded; it contains potholes large enough to fall a tanker. I'm using this medium to call on the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to fix this road.

Right on the River Niger, I saw a fallen heavy-duty vehicle and a few metres ahead, I saw two others.

Aside the deplorable state of the road, a military checkpoint few metres away contributed to the traffic holdup.

After we left the bridge, there was still further bad roads within Jebba, Niger State.

Normally, we would have gone through the Kpadongari-Kaduna Road, but there is a fallen bridge on that route. We went right. From that point onwards into Kaduna, the roads were very good, being newly constructed.

Apart from a few metres of bad road in the heart of Niger State, the road was very good leading into Kaduna and our destination, Zaria. But one thing kept ringing in my head: when will we get these tankers and heavy-duty trucks off our highways?

At least for starters, we should get rid of the menace of fuel tankers.

Adeyemi Ahmed,

Ilorin, Kwara State.