By Tony Edike, Enugu
TRAVELERS on the Ninth Mile-Nsukka highway wept uncontrollably in the afternoon of Monday, June 20, 2011 on sighting the mangled bodies trapped in two commuter buses that were involved in a fatal accident in which 28 persons perished. Four of the casualties were members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who were returning to their homes after the national service in one  of  the northern states.

The two ill-fated buses are owned by major Mass Transit operators based in Enugu State -Peace Mass Transit (PMT) and the Enugu State Transport Company (ENTRACO).  The PMT was founded by Mr. Sam Onyishi while ENTRACO is owned by Enugu State Government.

The accident occurred at Egede village on Ninth Mile – Nsukka highway where the Peace Mass Transit bus with registration number BENUE –  XB 504 TKP  and ENTRACO bus with registration number ENUGU – XL 812 UWN, each conveying 15 passengers, collided.  The Peace Mass Transit bus marked 2258, was conveying passengers from Enugu to Nsukka and was reportedly overtaking another vehicle when it collided with an oncoming ENTRACO bus.

Wreckage of the vehicles invloved in the crash

Only two out of the 30 persons in the two buses survived the crash but they sustained serious injuries which forced them into coma. They were still unconscious when officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in Enugu State Command rushed to the scene for a rescue operation. The two casualties were later rushed to a hospital at Ninth Mile while corpses of the victims were deposited at Our Saviour Hospital mortuary also at Ninth Mile.

Saturday Vanguard could not ascertain if the company has any plan to pay compensation to the families of the accident victims most of whom had been seriously incapacitated by the avoidable auto crash. The company operates a passenger manifest scheme but it was not known if the scheme has any financial
benefit for passengers involved in accident.

However, unconfirmed reports said apart from the four discharged NYSC members killed in the June 20 accident, an Nsukka indigene, who had taken his wife to the altar just two weeks before the ill-fated journey, also lost his life.
Another pathetic story was the involvement of two other ladies (students) who were travelling in PMT from Enugu to their village in Nsukka area for the burial ceremony of their father.  Rather than burying their father, their family has to bury three members of the family at the same time leaving their mother in perpetual agony.

The FRSC said it was very worried over the dangerous dimension road accidents appear to be taking and the frequency of occurrence on roads within Enugu State especially the Ninth Mile –Nsukka – Makurdi highway which is currently being rehabilitated by the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA.

The FRSC Sector Commander in Delta State, Mr. Lukas Ikpi who supervised the rescue operation said he was travelling on the road when he met the carnage and immediately alerted the Enugu Sector Command which sent its men to the scene for the rescue operation.

Officials of FRSC who witnessed the crash said it would have been avoided if the affected drivers had driven with caution. From their preliminary investigations at the scene of the auto crash, the officials identified over-speeding and dangerous overtaking as the major causes of the accident. Although they were careful in apportioning blames since none of the drivers or their passengers could narrate what actually happened, the FRSC operatives said they suspected that the Peace Mass Transit bus was overtaking another vehicle when it collided with the ENTRACO bus.

Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Sunday Onyebuchi, Senator Ayogu Eze representing Enugu North Senatorial District, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Ambassador Dr Godknows Igali, the State Chairman of the PDP, Engr. Vita Abba and other personalities who were returning to Enugu after attending the flag-off of the N2.57 billion Adada River Dam project at Igboetiti local government area witnessed the rescue operation.

They disembarked from their vehicles when they got to the scene of the disaster and expressed shock at the number of casualties involved.  They were indeed dumbfounded.

Regular occurrence

Auto crashes involving the Peace Mass Transit fleet on highways across the country had become a source of concern to the FRSC. The commission, SaturdayVanguard learnt, had taken a number of measures to curtail the excesses of  the drivers but some recalcitrant ones appear not ready to abide by laid down traffic rules.

Investigations revealed that the recklessness of such drivers was largely responsible for series of crashes recorded by the company in the past.

Among the measures which the company had taken in conjunction with the FRSC to forestall auto crashes on the nation’s highways included regular training of drivers, installation of automatic speed limiter, recruitment of qualified auto mobile engineers to ensure regular maintenance of their vehicles as well as elimination of overloading.

But in spite of these safety devices, the PMT buses plying all routes in the country have continued to feature on the accident list of the FRSC.  Although the company’s management had demonstrated its commitment towards the safety of the passengers, there are some unpatriotic drivers whose style of operation has continued to rub mud on the corporate image of the PMT.

At  inception, PMT operated within Nsukka, Enugu and Onitsha areas only to expand to over 26 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory few years after. “The PMT currently has over 2,500 customized UGAMA Hiace buses and 300 unregistered buses in its fleet.

The unregistered buses were given out as a way of helping those venturing into the business with a percentage of return to PMT.  When PMT acquires new buses, the buses are first put on distant routes such as Lagos to Abuja, Lagos to Nsukka or Lagos to Enugu.  After twelve months of operation on these long distant routes, they are withdrawn to ply local routes such as Nsukka to Enugu, Enugu to Abakiliki, Enugu to Onitsha, Nsukka to Enugu-Ezike, etc.

Twenty four months later, the buses are finally taken off the road.  PMT has regular staff strength of over 800 and contract staff of 2,000,” an official of the company told Saturday Vanguard in Enugu.

The company maintains major parks at Aba, Kubuwa , Abakiliki, Ojuelegba, Nsukka, Utako, Umuahia, Enugu, Port-Harcourt, Orile, Maza-Maza, Onitsha and many other cities in the six geopolitical zones of the country.

No more peace
Investigations revealed that the peace of mind which the company was known to has  given its passengers at its inception through effective management and engagement of disciplined drivers, is fast being eroded by increasing cases of accident.

The accident scare not withstanding, many passengers still prefer to travel in PMT buses because of what some described as “the fastness of drivers, non-breakdown of vehicles on the highway and the automatic speed limiter installed in long-distance buses.”

Disturbed by the loss of lives occasioned by incessant auto crashes, the FRSC said it would not keep quiet and watch innocent citizens dying on the highway as a result of carelessness on the part of the drivers.  It has therefore decided to publish an annual list or statistics of minor, serious or fatal road accidents involving the PMT vehicles in recent years.

The commission said the idea was to ensure that prospective travellers by public transport get sufficient enlightenment on the particular companies that are more concerned about passengers’ safety.

“We have even said that at the end of the year, we will publish the statistics of accidents that happened within the year so that people will know the rate of a company’s involvement in minor, serious or fatal accidents. May be, that will make the passengers to patronize the companies with low accident rate so it will serve as a deterrent to other companies,” the FRSC Public Enlightenment Officer for Enugu State, Mrs. C. L.Nwanne said.

According to Nwanne, accidents don’t just occur if road users, particularly motorists, should pay adequate attention to caution, and avoid over-speeding as well as dangerous overtaking.

“If every motorist will maintain minimum speed and avoid dangerous overtaking such as at bends and where they cannot see clearly ahead of them, the rate of road accidents will reduce. It’s dangerous driving, over-speeding that cause accidents most time,” said the FRSC Public Enlightenment Office

Efforts to speak with the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PMT, Chief Onyishi at the company’s headquarters in Emene Enugu proved abortive as he was not present on two occasions that Saturday Vanguard called.  His mobile telephone line was switched off and therefore could not be reached.

No official of the company was ready to speak on the fatal auto crash that claimed several lives along Nsukka road on June 20. One of the staff who claimed to be the company’s Public Relations Officer and who was not willing to disclose his name declined comment on the auto crash.  He told Saturday Vanguard to continue to call the phone line of the company chairman which could not be reached for many days.

However, an official in the maintenance department who volunteered comments but pleaded anonymity said PMT places high priority on the safety of passengers explaining that apart from organizing compulsory quarterly training for all the drivers to enable them keep abreast of modern traffic code, an official of the FRSC conducts periodic training for the drivers.