The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Warri Branch, has berated authorities of the Effurun Barracks of the Nigerian Army for what it termed “unlawful construction of high and multiple road bumps and speed breakers” at the gate of the Barracks on the NPA Expressway, Warri, Delta State.
Motorists plying the NPA Expressway have complained about the newly introduced speed breakers saying they have been a major cause of accidents particularly at night when there is no one to alert road users of the danger ahead.
Our Correspondent on Saturday morning saw a red-coloured Lexus Salon which allegedly crashed into the speed breakers causing the vehicle to somersault several times on Friday night.
The fate of the occupants of the vehicle was not immediately known.
Road users are worried that since the speed breakers were constructed they have been experiencing traffic gridlock at the Army barracks axis of the road.
Motorists also observed that soldiers from the barracks have resorted to intimidating road users in an attempt to enforce orderliness from the disorderliness caused by the speed breaker.
In its reaction, the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA Warri, asked the Nigerian Army to dismantle the speed breakers immediately reminding them that the road is an expressway which does not permit speed breakers.
NBA Warri in a press release after its monthly general meeting held on Sunday, November 19, 2023, called for the immediate removal of the “offensive road bumps and speed breakers” erected on Monday, November 13, 2023, on one of the lanes of the NPA Expressway without further delay.
In the release signed by the branch Chairman, Chief Oghenero Okoro and the Secretary, S. G. Ediagbonuvie, the Warri NBA observed that the “erection of these high and multiple road bumps/speed breakers has now led to a nasty, crawling and nagging gridlock on the Expressway, especially during the rush hours of early morning when residents are going to work and school and late evening, when people are returning from work and children, are coming back from school.
“This artificial gridlock created by the illegal road bumps and speed breakers is so discomfiting and inconveniencing to motorists and residents of the twin cities of Warri and Effurun and adjoining satellite towns. Even the heights of these road bumps and speed breakers also cause damage to the vehicles of motorists unnecessarily, especially sedans and saloons.
“The NPA Expressway, Warri, is a six-lane circular dual carriageway that runs from the Delta Steel Company Limited (DSC), Ovwian-Aladja to the NPA new port and stretches over fifty kilometres of road.
“That by the extant Traffic regulations made pursuant to the Federal High Way Act, CAP F13, LFN 2004, being an expressway, the allowed speed limit is 120 kilometres per hour and bumps and speed breakers are not allowed on an Expressway.
“Thus, the bumps and speed breakers erected by the authorities of the Effurun Barracks of the Nigerian Army are illegal and unlawful as they are erected on an Expressway where motorists are allowed a speed limit of 120 km/h. This is aside from the great inconvenience and suffering, the gridlock causes and/or occasions on motorists and residents.”
NBA Warri from its observations resolved as follows:
“That the NPA Expressway is a Federal Expressway and thus under the control and management of the Federal Ministry of Transport. As a result, only the Federal Ministry of Transport, after a technical evaluation can approve and erect road bumps and speed breakers on the NPA Expressway, Warri.
“That the act of the authorities of the Effurun Barracks of the Nigerian Army in this regard is clearly illegal and unlawful and we hereby call on the Nigerian Army as a professional, civilized and disciplined arm of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria subject to civil laws and authority to immediately abate these illegal road bumps and speed breakers.
“That the conduct of the authorities of the Effurun Barracks of the Nigerian Army in this regard cannot be justified on the ground of security. The Effurun Barracks has existed for decades on the NPA Expressway and no single security breach has been recorded as arising from the free flow of traffic on the Expressway. Also, the faster vehicles move by, the better for the view of the officers and men of the army as the area remains clear enough for them to quickly see any potential or mischief and deal with it promptly unlike now that everywhere is clogged by vehicles held down by the road bumps and speed breakers which also may clog the eagle eyes of the sentry men of the Barracks.
“The NBA Warri Branch condemns this reckless assault on the right of citizens by the Army and calls on it to immediately remove the offensive road bumps and speed breakers without further ado.”
Delta State Government had last Tuesday warned that no one no matter how highly placed should build a speed breaker on the road without adequate clearance from the necessary government agencies.
The State Commissioner for Works in charge of Rural and Riverine Roads, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, who disclosed in an interview with journalists said the state government would prosecute anybody who constructs speed breakers on roads in the state without approval from the state Ministry of Works.
Aniagwu noted that the indiscriminate construction of speed breakers on roads in the state was quite disturbing, adding that it makes nonsense of the efforts of the government.
He said the state government has made it abundantly clear that nobody, no matter how highly placed, should proceed to construct any speed breaker on any of the roads without permission from the Ministry of Works.
The Commissioner pointed out that anyone desiring to construct a speed breaker must come to the Ministry of Works for assessment and possible approval before such a speed breaker could be constructed.
