The Inter-agency Joint Task Force recently constituted by the Federal Road Safety Corps has seized 35 trailers carrying 982 passengers.
The arrests were carried out from March 23 to March 30, 2024, during the JTF operations on the Bauchi-Maiduguri and Abuja-Kaduna routes.
This was made known in a statement signed by the Corps spokesperson, Jonas Agwu on Thursday.
The Corps Marshal FRSC, Dauda Biu, had earlier flagged off the Inter-agency Joint Task Force on March 23, 2024, in Kaduna State, comprising of the Nigerian Police Force, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, state traffic management agencies and transport unions.
The mandate of the JTF is to mitigate trailer-related crashes and fatalities as well as stop the use of trailers to convey passengers following the spate of several avoidable crashes that involved trailers loaded with goods, animals and passengers that led to deaths and injuries.
The statement partly read, “A total of 19 trailers carrying 810 people were seized on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway.
“While the JTF team covering the Bauchi-Maiduguri general operation area of the corps also seized 16 trailers conveying 172 passengers on that route.”
It also said, ‘At the points of arrests, the JTF ensured that all passengers onboard the trailers were dropped, cautioned against the deadly act and asked to join passenger vehicles designed for conveying people.’
The statement further quoted the Corps Marshal as directing Sector Commanders of the states where the act was more prominent, to sustain ongoing engagement with the leadership of road transport unions as well as owners of articulated vehicles.
