Mbah to FRSC: Enforce anti-spill locks on petrol tankers to prevent recurrent explosions

Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu, has called on the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to enforce the use of anti-spill locks on petrol tankers across the country.

On Saturday, several persons were reported killed after a petrol-laden tanker exploded at the Ugwu-Onyeama section of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway.

Speaking on Tuesday when he received Zubaida Umar, the director-general of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in his office in Enugu, for the distribution of relief items to the victims of the explosion, Mbah said the anti-spill lock will protect the spillage of inflammable content in the instance of an accident.

“As I stated when I visited the scene, we have disasters that we know that we obviously could not have envisaged or predicted, and when they happen, we trigger all the responses that we have set up,” the governor said.

“But this issue of tanker fire or explosion is becoming too recurrent, and I did call on the law enforcement agencies, particularly the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), to ensure the enforcement of the anti-spill lock.

“This is because if we have an anti-spill lock on those tankers carrying inflammable products like petrol and automotive gas oil, we will then be able to mitigate such disasters because even if the tanker falls, it will still not spill.

“But what happened in Enugu was a function of the spill of PMS (petrol) that got into other cars, and they got ignited.”

He noted that the state government is working to ensure that the survivors get full medical treatment.

Mbah thanked President Bola Tinubu and NEMA for their empathy and quick response to the incident, noting that such action demonstrates the existing partnership between the federal and state governments.

“We have those that are at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu; University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) and the Enugu state University of Science and Technology Hospital, Park Lane, and we are taking care of the bills,” he added.

“We are deeply grateful for the support you have also provided. It is also a demonstration of the partnership between the federal government and the sub-nationals in this case, which we would want to entrench.

“We provided the ever-needed logistics to ensure that these items get to those who are most in need of them.”

Umar, while commiserating with the government and people of Enugu, announced the donation of food items and medical consumables for the survivors.

She also decried the incessant petrol explosions in the country while commending the governor for his leadership in managing the disaster.

“I wish to commend you for the timely visit to the scene of the incident and various decisions made, including ensuring that maximum medical attention was given to the survivors,” Umar said.

“We are donating relief materials consisting of 200 25kg bags of rice, 200 cartons of spaghetti, 20 cartons of five-litre vegetable oil, 20 cartons of seasoning, and 20 cartons of tomato paste, medicaments, and medical consumables to persons affected and impacted by the tanker fire explosion in Enugu state.

“The increasing cases of tanker fire explosions across Nigeria are not only devastating but also a clog on the wheel of progress and economic development of our communities.”