Weed out drug addicted drivers on your payroll, Ogun state lawmaker tells Dangote

A lawmaker representing Yewa North constituency in Ogun State House of Assembly, Hon Adegoke Awoso has tasked management of Dangote Company, to weed out drug addicted drivers in the organisation, who he alleged have been responsible for killings of innocent indigenes and residents of Ibese township due to reckless driving.

Penpushing reports that, Awoso reacting to Wednesday auto crash allegedly caused by a drunk driver in Ibese township road linking Ilaro, where five person were said to have been killed, lamented that such incident is becoming unbecoming.

The lawmaker added that, findings also revealed that narrowness of the road was contributing factor to the incessant crashes, and appealed to the authorities to rise up to the challenges before the situation gets out of hands

‘It is also established that most truck drivers are always under the influence of drugs in the course of their duty. Therefore, I want to appeal for the kind intervention of the management of Dangote Cement and the State Government on this matter most especially on the dualization of this road as a matter of urgency’, he said.

Penpushing further reports that, Awoso who described the recent incident as a ’Black Wednesday’, said the operations of Dangote the largest Cement factory in Africa should be a blessing to the community, but noted that, contrary is now the case, following incessant killings of residents by the reckless drivers

‘I am of the view that a true visionary leader must not only point out mistakes but must also provide reasonable solutions.  On this note, the regular loss of lives due to accident between Dangote trucks and commercial vehicles and motorcycles has been linked to reckless driving and narrowness of roads’, he stated.

‘The narrowness of the road has been highlighted as one of the major factors that caused this tragedy and we were told over a year now that the road from Dangote Cement Plant to Ilaro has been contracted out for dualizaton but till this moment nothing has been done’, Awoso said.

‘Dangote Cement Ibese Plant is the largest Cement Factory in Africa and it should be a blessing not a curse that will be leading to loss of life. A lot of CSR has been executed by the Company but yet uncompleted. This is not due to paucity of fund by Dangote PLC in Ibese but due to the Contractors they are given to; who are mostly elders and leaders in the host communities’, he added.

Penpushing also reports that, he recalled that when he visited the company sometime ago after similar sad incident, he suggested to the management, on need to always carry along the state government in engaging leaders of the community in any Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

‘When I visited Dangote Plant in Ibese during one of those days of crisis, I suggested to Dangote Plant Management that they should carry Government along in engaging community leaders in any CSR in our areas for a free and fair execution of projects’, he said.

Penpushing reports that, the lawmaker, however, thanked management of the company for engaging him on his proposal to engage 100 unemployed youths with stipends on the rice project, stressing that rehabilitation processes must be carried out on these drivers to reduce the rates of disaster.

‘On the issue of drug influence, a lot of rehabilitation processes must be carried out on these drivers to reduce the rates of disaster. On the reckless driving, a lot of petition has been sent to the House on this matter from Ibese plant and from Ijebu Igbo where Dangote is operating its quarry’, he added.

The lawmaker appealed to the Ogun state government to engage Dangote Company and mandate the management to do the needful on the necessary solutions suggested to curb all these menace and disasters.

Penpushing further reports that, Awoso commended the traditional ruler of the town for his quick intervention in discouraging the youths from taking law into their hands, by way of violence when the incident occurred.

‘Unlike before, the aggrieved youths in the Ibese and others host communities will have resulted in setting all the Dangote trucks ablaze.  Even all the aggrieved youths were agitating that the truck driver that ran away must be produced and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to other Dangote truck drivers’, he noted.

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