The Inter-agency Joint Task Force (JTF), recently constituted by the corps marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dauda Ali-Biu, to operate along critical corridors, has apprehended 35 trailers carrying 982 passengers.

This is contained in a statement by the corps public education officer, Jonas Agwu, on Thursday in Abuja.

Mr Agwu said the special intervention patrol operations apprehended 19 trailers carrying 810 people on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway and forwarded them to the national headquarters.

He said that the JTF team covering the Bauchi-Maiduguri general operation area of the corps also arrested 16 trailers conveying 172 passengers on that route.

“The arrests were perfected within the first week, beginning from March 23 to March 30, 2024, of its operations on the identified routes.

“At the points of arrests, the inter-agency JTF ensured that all passengers onboard the trailers were dropped.

“They cautioned against the deadly act and asked them to join passenger vehicles designed for conveying people,” he said.

Mr Agwu said the corps marshal had also directed sector commanders of the states where the act was more pronounced to sustain the ongoing engagement with the leadership of road transport unions and owners of articulated vehicles.

He said this was to ensure that drivers engaging in such traffic violations were cautioned.

On March 23, Mr Biu flagged off the inter-agency JTF in Kaduna State. The agency comprised personnel of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), state traffic management agencies, and transport unions.

Part of the JTF mandate was to mitigate trailer-related crashes and fatalities and stop the use of trailers to convey passengers.

This followed the spate of avoidable crashes involving trailers loaded with goods, animals and passengers, leading to deaths and injuries.

Amongst these crashes was that of March 4 in Tashan Yari, where a trailer loaded with grains and passengers crashed and killed 12 persons.

Another one occurred on March 18, when a trailer loaded with goods and 172 passengers crashed on the Kaduna-Abuja expressway, killing 10, while that of March 31 in Obajana resulted in the death of 13 people.

(NAN)