A commercial bus driver at Oshodi Bus Stop angrily shouted at his conductor attending to some passengers to buy three sachets of Erujeje drink, an alcoholic drink, from a petty trader offering different brands of such and other items for sale at the bus stop.
As the conductor returned to the bus with the sachets of the drink, despite the driver was still on the wheel and was ready to convey another set of passengers to Abule Egba from Oshodi, the driver gulped two sachets of the alcoholic drink, placing the third packet on the bus’s dashboard.
This is the norm among many commercial bus drivers in Lagos. Some of them even take the local drinks called Ogogoro or those missed with herbal powder, which are hawked and offered at bus stops in plastic bottles or small kegs.
Also, in many public and private bus stops, parks and garages in Lagos State, the sale of alcoholic drink of various sizes and brands is openly done, with many of the sellers competing for buyers.
And the drivers and their motor-boys are usually the principal target of the alcoholic drink sellers. This is happening despite the ban on the sales of alcoholic drinks at motor parks and bus stops in the state.
With the alcoholic drinks packaged in different sizes, particularly in sachets, it comes very handy for commercial bus drivers and other buyers, who also sometimes gulp the content almost immediately after purchase.
Similarly, because alcoholic drinks are now in sachets, many commercial drivers and their conductors buy and store them in their vehicles to consume, while on a trip.
And all these and many more are happening despite the various campaigns against drinking alcohol while driving. But some of these drivers and their boys do not stop at that, as some others even smoke marijuana and abuse substances, which are usually on offer at motor parks and sometimes bus stops.
It is scientifically proven that people who drive after using alcohol can’t react as quickly when they need to, their vision is affected, as it may be blurred or doubled.
Alcohol, it is said, alters depth perception, making it hard to tell whether other vehicles, pedestrians or objects are close or far away. It was, therefore, not surprising to some Nigerians, when the former Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, said that drivers were responsible for 70 per cent of the causes of the road crashes on the nation’s highways.
The minister stated that from the data analysed, three federal highways in the country had the highest number of casualties. He listed them as Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Keffi-Lafia and Abuja-Kano highways, adding that if the number of accidents on the three highways were reduced, the government would have succeeded in curtailing the problem.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), there were 13027 road crashes in 2021. And on zonal bases, the North-Central recorded the highest number of road crashes of 4,056, followed by the South-West at 3,451.
A further analysis of the NBS data showed that speed violations was the most frequent cause of road crashes last year, followed by sign violations and wrongful and then dangerous overtaking.
Also, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Lagos State said that 101 persons died while 625 sustained different degrees of injuries in road crashes in Lagos between January to August, 2021.
Furthermore, in Lagos, the 1,094 emergency incidents recorded between January 1 and August 31, 2024, accidents that are automobile related accounted for 476 of the cases. Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) records showed that 244 truck/tanker accidents and another 232 non-truck vehicle accidents.
A resident, AbionaAbegunde, said it was shocking that alcoholic drinks are still sold in parks and bus stops freely with no appropriate measures to permanent put them away from such vicinity considering the dangers such activities pose to the society.
“This involves lives and property of residents who commute daily, yet government and its agencies seem careless. Many private car owners in Lagos whose vehicles get dented by commercial bus drivers often have very negative and bitter experience because the commercial drivers usually display some form of insanity while on the steering. And an evaluation of these drivers when they come begging and pleading for pardon after the vehicles had been damaged often reveal persons enveloped in alcohol or other abuse substances.”
Another resident, Solomon Daniel, said the way many drive in Lagos, especially the yellow commercial buses drivers often point to the fact that they on some substances.
“Once there is a little traffic, they way they drive over the culvert or median and try to navigate through the traffic do not show someone in its right sense. Yet, many of these drivers are not checked by traffic and safety officers. I really have not seen the Federal Road Safety Corps stopping the yellow buses drivers to check if their vehicle documents are appropriate or if the driver has the permit to be behind the wheel. Yet they are the biggest danger to safety on our roads,” Daniel stated.
The Head, Public Affairs and Advocacy Unit, Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), LukmanAjayi, said the agency is really trying to put a stop to the sales or drinking of alcohol in motor parks across the state. He said this is being done through raids and confiscating of the alcoholic drinks from sellers at every given time or during enforcement by its officers.
According to him, the permanent cure or stop to this is for a concerted general efforts directed at preventing the sales of alcoholic drinks in parks and garages because it is a fight that everyone must join the Agency in this regard.
“There is need for other stakeholders to join in the fight against this menace,” Ajayirevealed that alcoholic drinks worth more than N3million have been seized so far this year in more than eight raids carried out by his agency.
