Another Dangote truck killed someone this week – What’s going on?

by Adedayo Ademuwagun

A deadly accident happened on the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway on Monday. A truck owned by the Dangote Group, which was coming into Lagos, had a brake failure at the border between Lagos and Ogun and crashed into a billboard, causing a multiple collision involving six vehicles. The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) says 14 people were badly injured, while one person died.

An eyewitness said FRSC responded instantly to rescue people and clear the scene. The nearby FRSC station is less than a minute away.

Sunday Omafu, the commandant of the station said, “Proximity is not necessarily a factor. We have units that patrol the expressway under our cover, and they have a mandate to detect emergencies and radio us here at the station. Then we respond immediately. FRSC has stations strategically spread out on all expressways so that our men can move in during any emergency within 15 minutes. We do our job.”IMG_20141202_145511

The Dangote Group has a history of truck accidents. In the last four years alone, there have been numerous deadly accidents involving Dangote trucks, all attributed to a driving or mechanical failure.

Last year, one of their trucks swerved and knocked down people passing by in Ibesa, Ogun. An furious mob burnt down the truck at once.

There was another one in Lokoja in 2012, where a Dangote truck reportedly had a brake failure and the driver slammed his vehicle into a passenger bus fatally. Another fatal Dangote truck accident happened in 2010, among others. The combined death toll in this four-year period is disturbing, and all this is coming from one corporation.

FRSC commander Omafu called these recurrent Dangote truck accidents “a national issue.”

He said, “We’ve tried to speak with the company about their drivers, but this is an issue that needs to be addressed at the national level. Our experience with the corporation’s drivers show they have some degree of incompetence and little education. It’s even a problem communicating with many of them. But we try to talk to them about their driving.”

The FRSC is responsible for road safety on federal expressways.

Omafu said, “We have an emergency number that anyone who witnesses an emergency can call free of charge to alert us. It’s 122.

“We also try to ensure that we educate bus drivers and others about road safety. We go out four times a week to visit motor parks and educate drivers about safe driving and vehicle road worthiness. Our efforts are quite paying off, and accidents have actually reduced on expressways these days.”

Dangote is the largest corporation in Nigeria and the largest employer of labour, next to the federal government.

Comments (18)

  1. I think federal govt in collaboration with states govt should look into this horrible situation, call Dangote & group to order to make sure they put their personnels and machineries in good form and to stop risking people’s life. Nigeria rich men stoles our money and continue rendering poor people’s life meaningless…. Chei there is God o

  2. Is just a normal sacrifice what do you expect the year is coming to an end

  3. bad market, bad week

  4. what? in just one week? thats too bad

  5. spirtual something

  6. work of hs enemies

  7. chai, this is serious

  8. this isnt the first time this shit will be happening.

  9. may thier souls rest in peace

  10. shit happens sometimes

  11. some idiots will start attaching nonsense to it now

  12. coincidence abi na wetin?

  13. sad one

  14. he has renewed his powers

  15. serious something

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