Reps want fire stations established along highways nationwide

The Nigerian House of Representatives has called for the construction of fire stations along the country’s federal highways.

The House specifically urged the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Federal Fire Service to work together and establish fire stations on all federal highways “to ensure prompt rescue during road fires.”

Also, the lawmakers urged the FRSC to increase supervision on trucks transporting petroleum products as well as other highly flammable products “to avoid overloading and to ensure compliance with safety standards, to prevent and reduce accidents that have the potential of resulting in explosions on the highways.”

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These resolutions were sequels to a motion moved by Taiwo Oluga, titled “Need to Establish Fire Fighting Quick Response Stations on Federal Highways Across the Country,” which was unanimously adopted at the plenary on Wednesday.

According to Oluga, “Despite the efforts of the federal government, accidents on the highways continue to occur, some of which result in fire explosions that result in the loss of lives and property.

“When such heinous accidents occur that result in fire explosions, firefighting or road safety agencies are often slow to respond because they do not have firefighting equipment on hand on the highways.

“The House is aware that on June 22, 2021, many vehicles were burned beyond redemption after a tanker laden with fuel burst into flames on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway’s Ogere axis, resulting in loss of lives and property and causing terrible traffic gridlock due to a lack of equipment to put out the fire and evacuate the debris from the federal highway,” says the report.

Between January and October 2019, over 153 Nigerians died as a result of fuel tanker accidents, according to a report released on October 26, 2019.