The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing has appealed to drivers of heavy-duty vehicles to guard against the overloading of their trucks to avoid overstretching of federal roads.
The Federal Controllers of Works in Kogi, Mr Jimoh Kajogbola, made the call while monitoring the progress of work on the damaged portions of the Kabba-Omuo-Ekiti road at Ikoyi in Iyara, Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi at the weekend.
He said, “We have problems of excessive loading of vehicles. For a road designed for 30 tons, they are carrying 45, 60, 75, and even 90 tons.
“There is no way the road will not be stretched beyond its elastic limits.
” Once it is overstretched, it fails and once that happens, there is no other way than to reconstruct it.
“The government is making efforts to check overloading by introducing the waybill system, but since that one is not yet in place, we should check ourselves.”
On the ongoing rehabilitation on the road, Kajogbola said the work was going on steadily and vehicles had started using it gradually.
He said that the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, directed him to monitor and expedite action on the rehabilitation of the road within the stipulated time.
The controller said the heavy vehicular traffic on the collapsed Kabba-Omuo-Ekiti road was due to a bad portion on the Okene-Ibilo road, which he said was an alternative route.
“Now all the traffic going to South-West, part of South-South and part of Kwara are now using this road.
” I want to appeal to Nigerians to be patient while moving on this road.
“If we are not patient, then we block the incoming traffic and everything will result in gridlocked and movement will be halted,” he said.
Kajogbola also appealed to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to make a standby towing vehicle available to remove broken-down vehicles obstructing the roads.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that three portions of the road were damaged last week Sunday, as a result of torrential downpours.
The downpour also resulted to auto crashes and heavy gridlock on the ever-busy highway.
