January 11, (THEWILL) – The Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has called on security agencies to address issues of overloaded heavy-duty vehicles, which lead to damaging of roads in the state.
Zulum expressed disappointment over the nonchalant attitude of some road users, especially heavy truck drivers, carrying overloaded goods.
During the meeting, he highlighted that the union had previously agreed and committed to complying with government directives.
He mentioned discovering heavy-duty trucks carrying overloaded goods on Gamboru Ngala road, heading to neighbouring countries like Chad and Cameroon.
He said, “What we want is to stop the issue of overloading, no one is stopping anybody from loading goods, especially the trans-border trade.
“Myself and the people of Borno have expressed delight over the effort of the federal government, led by President Tinubu on the issue of trans-border trade. But that shouldn’t be at the detriment of the people of Borno, as well as the federal government”, he said.
He decried that the entire roads are destroyed, all leading to one issue, not adhering to the rules and regulations.
“Henceforth, any vehicle that is plying on our major roads carrying goods beyond the maximum allocation limit, the goods shall be confiscated.
“We will also look at the state laws and that of the federal law to propose a bill that will be sent to the state assembly to amend a certain portion of the Borno State Road Transport Management Agency with steeper penalty for defaulters of the rules and regulations on the roads including the drivers. We want a situation where all trucks would load their goods not exceeding more than 40 tonnes within the state”, Zulum said.
He also noted that the Government will constitute a strong Tax Force Committee with representatives of the Road Transport Workers’ Union to checkmate the excesses of this menace.
The Honorable Commissioner of Transport, Aliyu Buba Lawan, thanked the Governor for his gracefulness for giving them the opportunity to amend some of the mistakes going on within the armpit of the Ministry.
The Commissioner, on behalf of the Ministry and the Road Workers Union, promised to take all necessary action given by the Government to ensure that the overloading of trucks plying the roads and bridges in the state have stopped.
The Commissioner announced the putting in place a weight-bridge from Muna to Gamborun-Ngala. He ensured to work with BODMA and to solicit support from the Nigerian Police through the Police Commissioner in the State.
