Segun Atanda/
Lawyer and public affairs analyst, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, has called for the immediate reconstruction of the Otedola Bridge along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, in Lagos.
Ogunye’s call followed a fuel tanker explosion on the bridge on Thursday evening in which nine persons have so far been confirmed dead.
An unconfirmed number of persons were also injured, with 54 vehicles, comprising the fuel tanker, five buses, two trucks, one tricycle, and 45 cars, razed.
According to Ogunye, it had become necessary to fashion ways to avert another tragedy on the spot which is now notorious for fatal accidents.
Ogunye said the reconstruction of the bridge should be aimed at raising its angle of elevation, “such that the slope of deaths that causes long vehicles and fuel tankers to reel back, while climbing the hill toward Berger, and which causes their brakes to fail, in that area when they are Lagos-bound, will be eliminated”.
Ogunye in a Facebook post, entitled, “The Otedola Bridge Tragedy, stated: “Hell Fire may not be worse than this conflagration on Otedola Bridge, on the Approach to Berger Area on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway today. The human toll and the material loss are monumental and irreplaceable. The pains and suffering will be much and enduring. Lagos is in grief. Nigeria is mourning. Humanity is bereaved.
“Amidst this loss and pain, it is not too early to start thinking about how to avert another similar tragedy in this area that has become notorious for petrol tanker explosions and terrible accidents of goods-laden long vehicles.
“The hackneyed suggestions are well known: good roads, good vehicles, and good drivers; for most accidents are caused by a combination of bad roads , vehicles that are not roadworthy, and bad driving . Owners of fuel laden tankers and their drivers should observe and discharge a special duty of care to themselves and other road users.
However, there is one recommendation that has been missing over the years, as far as the aversion of disasters on the Otedola Bridge Head is concerned: a total reconstruction of the Otedola Bridge, with a very high elevation, such that the slope of deaths that causes long vehicles and fuel tankers to reel back, while climbing the hill toward Berger, and which causes their brakes to fail, in that area when they are Lagos bound, will be eliminated.
“In other words, time has come for both the Federal Government of Nigeria and Lagos State Government to reconstruct that bridge and road in that area. This must be a special intervention that does not need to be tied to the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. It is an urgent task. A task that is more compelling than the reconstruction of the Oshodi-Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road. The hill has to be eliminated by a solid civil engineering work. This is the best way, in the prevailing circumstances, to prevent further loss of lives in that tragic spot.”
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