The House of Representatives has urged governments at all levels to immediately ban sales of alc0holic drinks and other drug-related substances in and around motor parks across the country.
The lawmakers also urged the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to extend its services to the parks and carry out random tests for drivers to ensure that they were not under any influence.
NAN reports that the call followed the adoption of a motion by Rep. Abbas Adigun (PDP-Oyo) at the plenary on Thursday.
Moving the motion earlier, Adigun said that consumption of psychoactive drùgs and alc0holic drinks could increase the risk of motor accidents, leading to loss of driving coordination, p00r judgement, p00r vision and cons£quently, loss of lives and property.
He said that it was a global practice that alcohol and other substances that could be abùsed were limited to the pubs and not in parks and public transport areas.
According to the lawmaker, motor parks have become sales points of alcohol and ill!cit drùgs where drivers, prior to their take-off, consumed the substances, thereby endangering the lives of passengers.
Adigun said that alc0holic beverages were freely available and openly displayed at motor parks, except for narc0tic drùgs that were usually traded and consumed clandestinely.
“Many drivers take alc0hol or hard drùgs before embarking on their journey simply because they are being sold at the motor parks, thereby endangering the lives of passengers and pedestrians,” he said.
The house urged transport business owners with private parks to discourage sales of alc0holic drinks in their parks.
The legislators urged the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to beam its searchlight on motor parks across the country to arr£st and pr0secute dealers and consumers of ill!cit drùgs.
In his ruling, the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Benjamin Kalu, mandated the Committee on Drugs and Narc0tic to ensure compliance.
Peoplesmind
