Gridlock as fuel tanker falls in Minna

A fuel-laden tanker on Wednesday fell and spilled its content after the driver tried to dodge bad spots close to the Niger State College of Education in Minna, Niger State.
The incident, which occurred at about 9:05am, caused gridlock on the road leading in and out of Minna as well as adjourning roads as people can be seen running for their lives.
However, the swift response by the Niger State Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, Niger State Emergency Management Agency and personnel from other security agencies to the scene few minutes after the incident occurred, helped to douse the panic.
The Director General of NSEMA, Ahmed Inga, assured journalists that the situation had been brought under control, but advised road users to be cautious.
One of the FRSC officials however advised motorists plying the Minna-Paikoro Road from the city gate to move with caution.
According to an eyewitness, the fuel tanker skidded off the road because of the deplorable state of the road and it is gushing out fuel.
Another eyewitness, Adamu Alheri, who is a taxi driver, told our Correspondent: “The tanker driver had tried to follow the one-way lane in order to avoid the huge potholes but was unsuccessful as the heavily loaded tank fell to the ground and the petrol contents started gushing out onto the tarred road.”
Narrating what he saw, a journalist with the campus radio station, Ultimate FM, Emmanuel Adams, said: “The driver was struggling with his steering to dodge the damaged side of the road.
“We thank God that the fire service and security personnels responded immediately.
“They took over control of vehicular traffic along the road.
“If not, a lot of people would have started coming close to see how they can scoop fuel from the tanker.
“I commend the effort of the police in controlling the traffic.”
A motorist, who simply gave his name as Olugbenga, however, called on the state government to “please, put this road in order.
“You can see the two sides of the road are bad.
“We just have only sand no tarred.
“Let the contractor handling this road commence work immediately for the good of the people instead of sand filling.
“Do you know that without the policemen intervention, people would done something funny and the next thing you hear is fire and many of course would have perished.”
However, as at the time filing this report, there was no fire explosion as the fire service and NSEMA are still trying to ease the tension and to transfer the fuel to another tanker, just as the policemen were seen surrounding the area to avoid any kind of danger.