Bauchi State Sector Command of the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC) says the “devil has taken over roads in the state”.
Sector Commander, Yusuf Abdullahi, made the declaration as he lamented that, within the 30 days of the month of November, not less than 35 people were killed in various auto accidents across the state.
Yusuf Abdullahi who was addressing members of the Special Marshall of the Sector at the FRSC Base during their end of the year meeting said, “I am very sorry to say, but the fact is that, the devil seems to have has taken over our roads in Bauchi State. We really need to stand up and do something to reclaim the roads”.
He said that, “the situation is so terrible, in the month of November, it was a case of one death per day because we had not less than 35 deaths from accidents across the state. This is worrisome and disturbing. Something has to be done quickly”.
Yusuf Abdullahi added that, “on the Bauchi – Kano road, we had accidents that claimed over 15 lives involving lone accidents as well as a Keke NAPEP which had a lone accident before an oncoming Sharon ran into it”.
A visibly worried Sector Commander also said that, “on the Bauchi – Jos highway, we had a few head on collision accidents involving mass transit buses which claimed not less than 15 lives with some of them burnt to ashes”.
He lamented that, “All the efforts of the Sector to solicit for support from individuals in the state on how to check the accidents has proved abortive. We had a stakeholders meeting on the need for collaboration but it is a pity that no favourable response is forthcoming”.
Yusuf Abdullahi also picked the Darazo – Dukku – Gombe road as another bad spot, particularly the bridge before Dukku which he said has failed and is now death trap for motorists plying the road.
He however pointed out that, “the Sector Command was able to get some empty drums from the FERMA office which were sandfilled and placed strategically to serve as a caution to the road users”.
He then called on members of the Special Marshall to always collaborate with the Regular Marshall stressing that, “all the departments of the Road Corps are working for one goal – reduce road crashes, avoid deaths through accidents that are caused by negligence of the road users”.
