No hand signal (but 1st October is here)

Those amongst us who witnessed the lowering of the British flag at the stroke of midnight on 1st October 1960 would readily recall that it was promptly replaced with the Nigerian flag – amidst pomp and pageantry.  It appeared (at least on the surface) to be a seamless operation.   The military top brass as well as the police, navy and fledging air force made a great show of saluting their new bosses – the politicians.   Within six years the honeymoon was over as evidenced by the fact that the same martial music with which the entire nation was assaulted on radio and television on Saturday January 15, 1966 was the same as what the military had played with considerable gusto at the handing over ceremony at the Race Course, Lagos.   It was a bloody coup de’etat that consumed the lives of the Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; the premier of Western Nigeria, Chief S.L. Akintola; the Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduana of Sokoto; and the Minister of Finance, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh.

The leaders of the coup would later claim that they had given plenty of signals that the military would strike, but we, the civilians, just did not notice despite all the signals delivered by hand.   Instead of watching their hand movement, we were distracted by their feet and their jack boots.

In the 1960’s hand signals were profoundly important in Nigeria, particularly among cults and secret societies.  Even among the general public, it did not go unnoticed that the cars that plied the roads were few.   They were mostly small cars such as “DKW” (sold by G.L. Gaisser Limited) and Moris Minor (distributed by John Holt Limited)

In the preceding decade, car drivers would have to stick out their hand through the window and signal frantically to let other cars know that they were about to turn left (or right) or stop.    With the coming of new technology, we now had cars which had yellow or red warning accessories which would pop out of the side of the car to indicate turning left (or right) or stop.  For the duration of the transition period most cars carried the bold inscription (at the back):

“NO  HAND  SIGNAL”

In any case, here we are fifty-five years later but still no hand signals as evidenced by the front page editorial of “Thisday” newspaper on September 10, 2015.

Headline: “THE OJUELEGBA TRAGEDY” [NO HAND SIGNAL]

“Again last Wednesday, an unlatched container of a rickety trailer fell off the Ojuelegba Bridge in Surulere, Lagos, crushing two private vehicles – a Sports Utility Vehicle and a Nissan Sunny whose occupants were immediately killed.  More tragically, it took the intervention of some good Samaritans and rescue operators to first remove the wrecks of the fallen trailer before gaining access to the crushed bodies of the victims.

Unfortunately, not more than 48 hours later, another accident in the same manner occurred along the Ikorodu-Shagamu Expressway between Lagos State Polytechnic and Jubilee Estate within the town.   Although no life was lost, the truck fell across the entire breadth of the dual carriage way and prevented motorists from using the major road for several hours.   It was a typical Nigerian tragedy that has happened several times before and may yet happen again.

Indeed, in recent years, there had been many of such accidents with hundreds of lives lost without any response from the authorities.  While we commiserate with the relatives and loved ones of the victims of the Ojuelegba tragedy, we once again renew our earlier call on the need to save Nigeria from the accidents usually caused by rickety heavy-duty vehicles that daily ply our roads.

Just recently on this page, we called on the authorities to rid the nation’s expressways, especially the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, of the nuisance of ailing petrol tankers and trailers.  Even when the Lagos State government has intervened several times to ban these petrol tankers and heavy-duty trailers from parking on some of the roads, such directives had been to no effect.

Much as we appreciate the useful services rendered by the owners of these oil tankers and vehicles, we want to insist that they should render their services carefully and within the ambit of the traffic rules and regulations in order not to endanger the lives of innocent citizens.   But that is currently not the case as they act as though they are above the law, without anybody calling them to order.   But given the nature of the Ojuelegba accident and the associated issues, there are things that critical stakeholders must do very quickly.

First, we strongly suggest that a heavy-iron bar be mounted across the Ojuelegba bridge to prevent heavy-duty oil tankers, trailers and heavy-trucks from plying the bridge as it is done on the Ikeja bridge.  We also urge the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO) across the country to be more alive to their responsibilities by ensuring that unworthy petrol tankers, trailers and heavy-duty vehicles are barred from plying our expressways.

It is indeed ironic that while many of the agencies that man our roads harass innocent motorists and road users, they turn a blind eye to the illegality and nuisance caused by worn-out oil tankers and heavy-duty trailers.   Yet these are the vehicles that constitute nuisance on the highways and threaten the lives of road users.

As we have argued repeatedly, what is happening on most of our highways across the country is anathema to decency in road usage while the armada of trailers and petroleum tankers will be considered primitive in more civilised societies.   However, years of toeing the path of impropriety and poor infrastructure development and maintenance in the energy and other sectors are having their toll on other forms of business.   That explains why we have tankers of all sorts on the roads every day with all the risks they pose to other motorists.

The tragedy at Ojuelegba should therefore be another wake-up call for the relevant authorities and critical stakeholders.  Human lives are precious and we should not be wasting them in the way we do.”

J.K Randle