FRSC boss, Boboye Oyeyemi
The Head Media Relations and Strategy of the Corps, Bisi Kazeem, revealed that in a no holds barred 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; hence, he called on the two organizations to have a joint decision on how to halt the trend.
According to Kazeem, the Corps Marshal noted thus: “most tankers do not have valves and whenever they fall, there is spillage of fuel and a resultant inferno occurs”. He stressed that it is against this backdrop that 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 as well as ridding the roads of rickety tankers engaged in the business of transporting petroleum products.
In his response, the Chairman of NUPENG-PTD, Otunba Salmon Oladiti thanked the Corps Marshal for the respect he has for the Union and his 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. He added that the Union has engaged Consultants in the past and equally set up task forces to arrest recalcitrant tanker drivers.
He stated that nevertheless, he is ready to partner FRSC to stem road carnage, and expressed his delight that the training and retraining of tanker drivers will start all over again in January. He used the occasion to invite the Corps Marshal to their next National Executive Commitee(NEC) meeting 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.
Otunba 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 (NARTO) 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 old vehicles.
