With the recent incessant crashes of tankers, the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Boboye Oyeyemi, visited the Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers/Petroleum Tanker Drivers, Otunba Salmon Oladiti, in Abuja to register the concerns of the Corps and that of Government on the unwarranted loss of lives, loss of properties and damage to roads and the highways.
The Head Media Relations and Strategy of the Corps, Bisi Kazeem, revealed that in a no holds bar meeting with NUPENG-PTD, the Corps Marshal expressed his concerns that in the past two and a half weeks, about 11 tankers have been involved in crashes.
He thus proposed a working relationship of the two organizations to have a joint decision to halt the trend.
According to Kazeem, the Corps Marshal noted: “Most tankers do not have valves and whenever they fall, there is spillage of fuel and a resultant inferno occurs.”
Oyeyemi stressed that it is against this backdrop the Corps Marshal has ordered the impoundment of any tanker without valves plying the Nigerian roads.
The Corps Marshal used the special occasion to advice NUPENG-PTD on maintenance of their articulated vehicles and as well ridding the roads of rickety tankers engaged in the business of transporting petroleum products.
In his response, Oladiti thanked the Corps Marshal for the respect he has for the Union and enduring willingness to consult with the Union rather than wielding the big stick.
He revealed that on his part as the Chairman of the Union, he has devoted time to talking with the drivers, training them and dissuading them from engaging in night journeys and other vices.
Oladiti added that the Union has engaged consultants in the past and equally set up task force to arrest recalcitrant tanker drivers.
He stated that nevertheless, he is ready to partner the FRSC to stem road carnage and expressed his delight that the training and retraining of tanker drivers will start all over again in January.
Oladiti used the occasion to invite Oyeyemi to their next National Executive Committee to talk to them on how best to use the highways and how to avoid crashes.
The Chairman gave thumbs up to the FRSC for the large deployment of men to Nigerian roads and advised the Corps Marshal to talk to construction companies to place adequate diversion signs around construction sites to help stem road carnages.
Salmon used the opportunity to send a word of appeal to the Federal Government to assist his Union and the National Association of Road Transport Owners in granting soft loans to fund replacement of rickety articulated vehicles plying the roads, as the recession has made it quite difficult for transport operators to fund the replacement on their own.
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