The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Drivers

  • Tanker drivers warn of fuel scarcity in Lagos

    The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) of National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers (NUPENG), yesterday warned of artificial scarcity of petroleum products, if the Lagos State Government implements its ban of articulated and petroleum tankers from Lagos roads.

    The government, on Friday, ordered all tankers and trailers to – for the meantime – keep off the roads and stop at Ojodu Berger, the outskirts of the state, to enable it solve the traffic congestion in the metropolis, as a result of tankers parking at Apapa, which had stretched up to Ikorodu Road.

    PTD National Chairman Comrade Salimon Oladiti while expressing shock at the “sudden  blanket order by the state government to stop all trucks and petroleum tankers from entering the state,” said his members are not responsible for the intractable traffic in the state.

    In a statement by his Public Relations Officer Comrade Atanda Adebayo, Oladiti said the traffic logjams are caused by the activities of articulated trailer drivers as they access all the ports in the Apapa and Tin Can area.

    He advised that any action that may affect the activities of petroleum tanker drivers should be discussed at “a roundtable because of the sensitive nature of the service they render to the public.”

    Oladiti said the union is ready at all times to “cooperate with the government on issues affecting the masses and the economy of the state.”

    According to him, the gridlock at Apapa is not caused by members of the petroleum tankers but by articulated truck drivers going into various wharfs in Apapa and Tin Can Ports.

    Oladiti, who said the bad roads affects his members by obstructing them from accessing depots to load petroleum products, noted that many of his members from all over the country, often spend close to two weeks under harsh conditions before getting to depots to load petroleum products.

    He urged the governor to among other places, visit Coconut Bus Stop on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, “which has become a death trap.” He assured of the readiness of his members to assist the government to address the traffic logjam at Apapa.

  • Police warn drivers, passengers not to collect edibles

    The police in Enugu State have warned drivers and passengers against collecting edibles from strangers, who drug people and dispossess them of their belongings.

    Ebere Amaraizu, police spokesman, gave the warning in a statement in Enugu.

    He said: “The command reminds the public, particularly passengers and drivers of taxi and tricycles, on the need to be security-conscious by being wary of the antics of mischief-makers, who hide under the guise of passengers to wreak havoc on cab and tricycle operators.

    “These mischief-makers drug fruit juice, sachet water, soft drinks and suya (roasted meat), which they give to driver or co-passengers, to express ‘kindness’, with a view to making the driver and co-passengers weak and unconscious, thereby running away with the taxi, or Keke Napep, or belongings of a co-passenger.’’

    Amaraizu said the mischief-makers also acted as chartered passenger(s) to tricycles’ and cabs’ operators, tricking them to either a hotel, supermarket or bar as if they are meeting someone for an appointment.

    “They will order for drinks or suya (roasted meat), including water for the operator to enable him (mischief-maker) finish discussions with whoever he has come to see.

    “The unsuspecting victim most times relaxes and consumes the items and after a while becomes unconscious.

    “The mischief-maker then runs away with the car or tricycle,’’ he said.

    He said the command advised the public to be vigilant not to fall victims.

    “The command, working  with other security agencies and stakeholders, has put measures in place to fish culprits and punish them,’’ he said.

  • In Ogun, crackdown on erring drivers, hawkers continues

    Commercial drivers in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, who pick and drop passengers on the highways had a bad experience as their vehicles were impounded during a joint task force operation which began from Sango-Tollgate on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway. The seven-hour operation began by 7:00 a.m. and ended at 1:00 p.m.

    The operation, led by Sango Ota Deputy Area Commander, Superintendent of Police (SP) Camillus Okoye. Others in the team were the Sango Divisional Police Officer Sola Ogunwale, Sango Divisional Traffic Officer (DTO) Adekunle Awoniyi, Ota Unit Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Kunle Oguntoyinbo, Ota Divisional Commander, Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) Adekunle Ariyo Ajibade, Ota Divisional Commander, Vehicle Inspection Officer (VIO) Paul Kehinde Osukoya and the Ogun State Vigilance Service.

    The DPO warned traders and hawkers to desist from displaying their wares on the road in order to facilitate free flow of traffic. He said it was impossible for any driver whose vehicle brakes were faulty to manoeuvre when the road is blocked.

    Chairman of Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government, Prince Bashiru Oladele Adeniji, said his administration would not lift the ban on trading, picking and dropping of passengers on the road sides.

    He noted that it was his vision to see the local government environment free of traffic jam.

    He spoke through the Secretary to the local government, Adewale Adegoke Dada, when he visited Ota Command’s office of Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE).

    Reacting to the incessant crashes on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway and other roads across the council, he said crashes had claimed lives and properties worth millions of Naira destroyed.

    The chairman denied that the council officials were collecting money from the street traders.

    He said: ‘’There is no truth in the allegation that the council encourages insanity at the Tollgate by collecting money from traders and allocating spaces to them in order to display their goods.  We’ve just completed cleaning of Oju-Ore. Tollgate is the next port of visit.”

    According to him, it is difficult for vehicles to manoeuvre their way in case of brake failure or other mechanical fault because 75 per cent of the road had been blocked by traders and illegal/indecent parking by commercial transporters.

    He said the council would continue to partner traffic agencies, the police, military and paramilitary to restore sanity on all roads across the local government.

    According to Prince Adeniji, the exercise began from Oju-Ore with the Department of Environmental Sanitation sealing off the shops of some traders who breached environmental laws while goods of traders were seized to ensure compliance with the traffic and environmental laws.

    He appealed to Ado-Odo/Ota residents to obey traffic rules, saying anyone that breaches traffic and environmental laws would be prosecuted according to the established laws of the state.

    Ajibade said eradicating indiscriminate parking, picking and dropping of passengers on the road by commercial drivers, and hawking were the target of the joint task operation. He said it will be a continuous exercise until sanity returns to the highway.

  • FRSC, drivers and specialists

    The Holy Scriptures, the bible aptly describes the human heart as evil and desperately wicked. It considers the heart as the fertile soil where seeds of sin are sown and a podium from which man mocks his maker. Who can fault the Word? And indeed examples abound in the bible.

    The great King David’s lust would not be sated by his bevy of queens and harem of concubines; his heart coveteth Bathsheba, General Uriah’s wife. And he has to ambush his general (not minding that he is defending his kingdom) and acquire his wife.

    On the other hand, the mind is a more delicate specimen; it is the CPU that processes billions of information, activities and impulses every day. While the heart may be carried away by red, ripened fruits (Eve) and the lush, curvy flesh, (Bathsheba) the mind crunches numbers and relishes disquisitions. While the heart may be likened to a bohemian hedonist, the mind is fragile, brittle and stoic.

    The mind, therefore, is to be handled with utmost care and sensitivity. And mind you, by a specialist. It is for this reason that Hardball is nonplussed by the new-fangled idea by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to invoke psychiatric examination on errant motorists.

    We wonder: is this some kind of a sinister mind game or a joke taken too far? In Wole Soyinka’s classic, Madmen and Specialists, it turns out that as the play progresses, psychos morph into physicians and vice-versa.

    Is it possible that the raucous traffic of Nigeria’s cities, especially Lagos has set the Commission on a spin? At which point does a simple traffic infraction become a manic behaviour? For instance, a man sound in body and mind mistakenly misses his turn and he is soon straight-jacketed  before a shrink whereupon his delicate mind snaps in the process!

    But more accidents and deaths are caused by bad roads: shall we summarily execute the erring government officials for criminal negligence?

    The proposed traffic examination takes effect July 1st this year. Some of the identified traffic offences include: route violation, traffic light violation, dangerous driving and overloading.

    Some of these offences are nebulous and will create avenues for abuse; it is the hapless commoners who would bear the brunt of this new rule. Officials of most uniformed agencies routinely break traffic rules unchallenged; ‘big’ men in big, tinted four-runners get away with nearly anything on the road.

    Obnoxious behavior is not best cured with obnoxious remedies. Psychiatric test for road offenders is high handed and callous. There are enough traffic rules to manage traffic infractions.

  • Dangote cement hands over drivers to Customs for carrying contrabands

    The transport section of Dangote Cement Ibese Plant has intercepted one of the company’s truck loaded with contrabands in Ibadan.

    The drivers were arrested and handed over the Nigerian customs for further investigations and prosecutions.

    The arrest was effected by a crack team of the company’s security personnel led by its Chief Security Officer, who acted on intelligence, bordering on misconduct by some of its drivers.

    Handing over the drivers and his motorboy to the Customs authorities, Assistant General Manager, in charge of Security Services, CSP Ali Garba, explained that the company has a surveillance section that monitors its trucks and drivers’ activities.

    He said: “On June 7, 2017 at about 1820 hours, intelligence information received by Dangote’s senior drivers in Ibese led to the interception of Dantrans truck No KMC 38 XR / ICT-13A-083 driven by a former and dismissed driver Ismaila Abubakar. The truck was loaded with frozen Turkey allegedly loaded at Iyana Isolo, Lagos State heading to Benin City, Edo State”

    He revealed that while Nasiru H. Ahmed 284393 is the bonafide driver to truck KMC 38 XR / ICT-13A-083, their preliminary investigation revealed that on  June 2,  2017, Ahmed loaded 900 bags of cement for Benin Depot.

    “At Kara Garage in Benin City, Nasiru H. Ahmed dropped from the vehicle and travelled to Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State, leaving the truck in the care of his motorboys –  BilyaminuAbdullahi and Bashiru – with the dismissed driver IsmailaAbubakar.”

    Unfortunately for the bonafide driver, IsmailaAbubakar drove the truck from Kara to Benin Depot for offloading the cement after removing truck tracking system and left it in Benin City.

    He said: “Investigation revealed further that instead of driving straight to the plant, they decided to go to Iyana-Isolo in Lagos State to lift frozen turkey to Benin City at the cost of N350,000, of which only N70,000 was paid as part-payment.”

     

     

  • Travelers stranded as drivers protest killing of on Benin-Lagos highway

    Travelers stranded as drivers protest killing of on Benin-Lagos highway

    Travelers and motorists plying the Benin-Lagos express road were on Thursday stranded for over ten hours following protest by commercial drivers and drivers of luxurious buses over the killing of conductor and a pregnant woman.

    The protesting drivers blocked the Benin-Lagos express road at the Okada junction from 3am demanding increased presence of security personnel on the highway.

    Newspapers being conveyed to Edo and neighbouring states from Lagos State arrived Benin City at 2:30pm.

    Witnesses said armed robbers blocked the highway at about 1am, robbed several vehicles and in the process killed two persons.

    The killing of the bus conductor angered the luxurious bus drivers who used their buses to block the highway.

    They were joined by other commercial drivers.

    A driver of the Young Shall Grow motors marked AAA 283 XM that was attacked, Mr Obika Orakwe, identified the deceased conductor as Onyekwere.

    He narrated that “We left Onitsha around 10:30pm. While we are coming armed robbers attacked us immediately after we left Benin heading to Okada. We managed to escape but we now decided to park somewhere because the shooting was too much. We discovered that the conductor of the bus had been killed. The robbers also robbed several vehicles close to where we parked, including Ezenwata bus and some small buses and were shooting everywhere”.

    A driver conveying Complete Sports who gave his name as Ayinla, said the robbers took over the road as early as 1am  killing two  persons on the spot.

    He said the robbers operated unhindered without police presence.

    “There was a robbery incident at Okada Junction where they killed a conductor and a pregnant woman. This whole incident triggered the luxurious bus drivers to block the road so that nobody could either go or come in.

    They said they will not leave the high way until the federal and state government come to address the issue of incessant robbery on the Benin-Lagos Express road.

    Mr. Johnson Saliu, a driver with the Tribune Newspaper who arrived Benin City at 1:50pm described the situation as horrific.

    “It was very tough. You can imagine somebody  that has been on the road since 11:am till now, it is not easy and the experience is very  terrible.

    “More than three weeks since I have been coming here, there is no day there has not been a robbery attack on this road”, he said.

    It was the intervention of the State Commissioner of Police, Haliru Gwandu, the State Director of the Department of State Security (DSS), Ibrahim Hiliu and the Secretary to the sSate Government, Barr. Osarodion Ogie that made the drivers leave the highway.

    Ogie said, “We received this report this morning about the traffic jam that occurred around Okada junction this morning as a result of armed robber incident. We got in touch with the Director of SS and the Commissioner of police. We saw the thousands of stranded passengers and drivers.

    “We received the report of the robbery operations and I can assure you now that security agencies are going to increase their presence around here and across the state. We have the responsibility to make sure that our state is safe and everybody that passes here does that safely. We are going to increase security in all the major roads involving members of the communities, the army, police and others,” he said.

    The police Commissioner said it was police intervention that rescued the passengers.

    “However the hoodlums who came from the bush shot the windscreen of the bus, wounded the conductor who later died in the hospital.

    “Apart from the conductor who lost his life others are hail and hearty. I will say kudos to my men who attended to the distress call. We have seen how it could have been supposing their was no prompt response from the police. The Command is battle ready to ensure that such hoodlums are brought to justice. We will apprehend them. Not only that, proactive strategy will be deployed. The aspect of visibility policing where the government promised to provide containers for the police, so that hoodlums will not take advantage of heavy down pour.”

  • No going back on tanker drivers’ strike, says NUPENG

    No going back on tanker drivers’ strike, says NUPENG

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has said its Petroleum Tanker Drivers had been mobilised to ensure no movement of petroleum tankers as their nationwide strike begins on Monday.

    Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, the South-West Chairman of NUPENG Lagos Council, made the assertion on Sunday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    According to Korodo, all the tanker drivers have abandoned their trucks in respect of the indefinite strike which will begin on Monday unless the Federal Government intervenes.
    The chairman said the drivers were forced to down tools due to unresolved issues concerning their welfare, poor remuneration, insecurity and bad roads.

    “The tanker drivers for the past three years have been appealing to the Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) to increase their salary but they refused on the ground that spare parts had increased.

    “NARTO said that government has not increased their fares, so they will not increase their salary.

    “Apart from this, most of the roads they ply are bad and this has resulted in accidents or damaging their trucks.

    “The activities of the official of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps on the roads is not helping the matter,’’ Korodo told NAN.

    “The tanker drivers are forced to break the seal of their product on the pretext that they were carrying adulterated product.

    “Most of these drivers are harassed by these officers, at times the tanker and the driver will be detained for close to a month,’’ he said.

    Korodo also said that more than 2,000 staff of Capital Oil and Gas Ltd., were on the line due to their closure by the Federal Government due to some issues between the company and NNPC.

    He said that the union wanted the government to resolve the matter so that the company would be opened and the staff and tanker drivers would resume duty.

    The chairman, however, said that the strike would not affect activities in filling stations, depots or refineries across the nation.

    NAN reports that on March 31, the PTD branch of the NUPENG said they would begin a nationwide strike on April 3.

    NUPENG’s President, Mr Igwe Achese, announced this in a communique in Lagos at the end of its Central Working Committee meeting held at the union’s secretariat in Yaba.

    The communique said the strike would draw the attention of the Federal Government and other stakeholders to some unresolved issues bordering on the welfare of workers, bad roads, poor remuneration, insecurity and the alleged excesses of some security agencies. (NAN)

  • PTD to train 1500 drivers in Lagos on safety maintenance

    The Petroleum Tanker’s Drivers (PTD) arm of the the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Lagos zone, is to train 1,500 drivers.

    Speaking at a National Safety Training  Programme in Lagos, the Chairman, PTD-Lagos zonal council, Comrade Rasaq Akanbi, said the training would centre on safe driving and vehicle maintenance.

    He said at the end of the five week training, each driver would be issued with a certificate, adding that any driver without a certificate would not be allowed to load.

    “We believe that we need to train and re-train our members across the country. If we don’t train them, they may misbehave and cause havoc along our highway.

    “I believe the training will create a very big impact on the attitude of members on the highway. Our target is to reduce, if not totally eradicate, frequent tanker accidents on the highway because if a tanker gets involved in an accident, it is going to cause a lot of damage to people and properties. We are training them because they are the ones that have interface with the vehicles and other road users,” he said.

    Deputy Chairman (2), PTD, Lagos zonal council, Comrade Saheed Adigun, said the main purpose of the programme was to enlighten drivers on how to drive safely when ever they are on the wheel.

    He said the programme would also address other challenges associated with tanker drivers.

    “I am so pleased today and can boldly say that the efforts of the union so far have not been in vain. We have recorded almost no major accidents. It shows our campaign on safety on wheels is yielding the desired results.

    “We are happy that we are not only oiling the economic wheel of this nation, we are doing it in such a way that we put the safety of lives and property of Nigerians above personal gains and we spare no cost to achieve this important goal,” he said.

    He called on all to be alive to their responsibilities and work for the nation.

  • Real estate group to honour ‘drivers of growth’

    The International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), Nigerian chapter, plans to honour individuals and institutions that are ‘’drivers of growth”

    in the sector.

    The plan, an integral part of FIABCI Annual Award and Business Dinner in the new year, will help motivate the domestic real estate space, and help to drive excellence, encourage creativity and promote good business environment.

    “This is an annual event through which we provide insights on real estate and contribute to national economic space,” explained Joseph Akhigbe, president, FIABCI Nigeria, at a forum in Lagos.

    He said the theme of this year’s award and dinner is ‘Real estate: It is all about the economy’. He listed the five categories of awards as Finance (Most Effective Real Estate Financier), Architecture and Design, Public Private Partnership, Real Estate Journalist, and Developer/Urban Planning.

    “FIABCI is the most representative organisation of the real estate industry in the world and holds special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSCOC) of the United Nations”, Akhigbe said, assuring that the forth-coming yearly dinner would provoke thoughts on the economy and the real estate sector.

    Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, is expected at the dinner as the special guest of honour while Doyin Salami, a lecturer at the Lagos Business School and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will be the guest speaker.

    The federation’s Africa president, Chudi Ubosi, recalled that the body launched a campaign on moderately-priced or affordable housing for which it sought private sector interests to partner with in order to proffer solution to the problems associated with the delivery of such houses.

    “Our goal in this campaign  is to find various ways to reduce, as quickly as possible, the imbalance between the low supply and huge demand for moderately-priced housing units,” Ubosi said, assuring that through the campaign, FIABCI plans, among other measures, to identify beneficial financing formula that will encourage investors and developers to embrace the campaign and play an active role in planning tomorrow’s cities equipped with affordable housing.

  • FRSC enforces tanker drivers’ ban from night journeys

    FRSC enforces tanker drivers’ ban from night journeys

    The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) yesterday reiterated its ban on petroleum tanker drivers from night journeys today.

    FRSC Corps Marshal Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi said in Lagos that any truck found contravening the order would be impounded.

    According to him, the ban is to promote safe petroleum haulage.

    “No tanker should be seen on the road at night. We need to find solutions to incessant crashes of tankers on the road.

    “Beneficial as petroleum sector is to the nation, safe haulage remains FRSC concern.

    “There is a problem and we have solutions to them, no more night journeys for petroleum products, from Monday, December 19, enough is enough.

    “The effects of crashes are quite unquantifiable on human life, environment and economy,” Oyeyemi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    The FRSC boss noted that a crash involving a tanker laden with petrol will lose N50 million; the cost of its contents and vehicle.

    Oyeyemi said many night crashes  had caused severe damage to people and the community.

    He said besides the lives lost, number of houses, shops, farm and other investment were engulfed in flames.

    The corps marshal added that such incident portrayed the nation in bad light.

    Oyeyemi said the dimension and scale of devastation caused by these crashes were huge on the society.

    According to him, there are laws and policies to tackle the problem, if every stakeholder complied.

    He said the National Road Traffic Regulations 2013, Road Transport Safety Standardisation Scheme and Safe-to Load-Projects were part of the efforts to tackle the problem.

    Oyeyemi advised tanker drivers to stop deliberate violation, neglect and non-compliance to basic road traffic regulation.

    He appealed to them to stop intimidating other road users, especially, those who drive light weight vehicles by exposing them to risk.

    The FRSC boss said the mandatory Speed Limiting Device installation was a good initiative at reducing speed-related crashes.

    “It is also essential to install trackers in vehicles on the fleet to obtain real time information about drivers and driving behaviour, which are paramount for successful operations.’’

    “Also drivers involved in delivery and distribution of petroleum products in the country must be properly trained and certified.”