The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Tanker drivers

  • Two killed as Kaduna tanker drivers clash

    Two people were reported killed in the violence that erupted yesterday over crisis between the two factions of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Association (PTDA) in Kaduna State.

    It was learnt that the fight erupted around 7.30am, by the tanker drivers’ parking lots and their offices. Each group reportedly wanted to occupy the office of the chairman to take over control.

    An eyewitness said: “The drivers threw rocks at each other. Some were beaten with clubs. Others drew daggers and chased their enemies.

    “Some groups went into bare fist brawls, causing the death of two of their members. Several people are undergoing treatment for the injuries they sustained.  “They fought on, as if it was some bizarre game, with knives, petrol, clubs, stones and teeth. The police served as unwilling referees. They were fully in charge, to the chagrin of everyone who was not part of the duel. At a point, they even attempted to take over the police station. But the policemen desperately shot into the air and managed to scare them off.”

    Another eyewitness said: “The combatants, surprisingly comprising aged men wearing grey beards and young thugs hardly in their teens, fought with unusual courage. They bled and wept from the pains of blows and from the suffocating effect of the tear gas.

    “All banks were shut. The gates to the Kaduna Refining  and Petrolchemical Company (KRPC) were shut. Hundreds of people could neither enter nor leave the KRPC. The show of shame went on for hours. Decent men and women trapped in the fiasco wondered how such lawlessness could happen without check.

    The sound of an armoured car was heard around 9:30am. The vehicle charged past the United Bank for Africa (UBA) branch in the area.

    There were two trucks of angry-looking, armed soldiers speeding behind it.

  • Tanker drivers call off strike

    Tanker drivers call off strike

    The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) has called off its strike.

    The strike action was meant to compel the government to repair some of the roads in the South-South and South East zones of the country.

    The tanker drivers had withdrawn their services from the roads, refusing to lift petroleum products with the resultant long fuel queues in the affected areas. But the body has asked its members to resume work immediately.

    Addressing a press conference at its national secretariat in Abuja yesterday, PTD National Chairman, Comrade Salimon Oladiti, said the decision to suspend the industrial action was taken after the intervention of some stakeholders in the industry who pleaded that the union should give the government more time.

    Oladiti said: “You will recall that we gave an ultimatum last month, warning of an impending strike action in parts of the South-South and South East.

    “We had specifically called for urgent repairs of the Port Harcourt-Eleme Junction Road, Okigwe-Umuahia and Jebba-Ilorin roads.

    “Expectedly, our members had on the expiration of the ultimatum boycotted these roads and refused to lift products on those axis and for the second week running now, the situation is becoming unbearable.

    “Moreover, we had wanted to extend same action to other parts of the country.

    “It is in this regards that we called this press conference to inform Nigerians that after due consideration and wider consultations, we have directed our members to resume work in the areas where we had earlier withdraw our services.

    “The union agreed to respond to the clarion call made by the DSS and other stakeholders that we give the government more time to attend to these roads.

    “We, like every other Nigerians, are mindful of the difficult times. We also fill the pain, if not more, and advise the federal government to send emissaries to verify the state of these roads and take palliative measures.

    “The road from Jebba to Ilorin, which is a distance of about 100 kilometres, usually takes a whole day for our members to cover.

    “Port Harcourt to Eleme Junction, which is a distance of five kilometers, takes over five hours, and the same thing goes for Okigwe-Umuahia Road.

    “We have heed the call by the authorities concerned and granted more time as requested with the hope that government would fulfill its part of the promise by making these roads motorable while on our part, we shall continue to serve the nation better and more efficiently in the haulage sub-sector.

    We have warned that failure to fulfill this promise, we may not give any further notice of action.”

  • Tanker drivers threaten to disrupt fuel supply

    PETROLEUM Tankers drivers have threatened to disrupt the lifting and distribution of petroleum product to parts of the Southsouth and South-east and part of the North Central within the next two weeks if the government failed to commence the immediate repair of roads in the area which the said have become a death trap for their members. The National Chairman of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Branch of NUPENG, Comrade Salimon Oladiti, said in a statement made available to The Nation in Abuja on Thursday, that the government has within two weeks to heed the union’s call to fix the roads and save the lives of their members. He listed the roads to include Port Harcourt – Eleme junction road, Okigwe— Umuahia, and Jebba— Oloru—Ilorin Roads in Rivers, Abia and Kwara states respectively. While saying that the said roads have continued to portend grave danger to his members, Oladiti said that the roads are daily becoming bad, adding that the deplorable state of the Port Harcourt — Eleme Junction road, a distance of just about 10 Kilometers, takes seven to eight hours of maneuvering and meandering by trucks, many of which breaks down in the process, upturning contents, killing PTD members and endangering the lives of several other Nigerians using the road. He described the present state of the Okigwe — Umuahia road and Jebba — Oloru as appalling, saying that further delay in the repairs portends greater danger for his members. Speaking further, he said that in spite of repeated calls for government action on the roads, nothing has been done to put the roads in good condition, saying the National Executive has decided to halt the lifting and distribution of petroleum products in the affected areas within the next two weeks if nothing is done about the condition of the roads.

  • Nightmare continues on Apapa-Oshodi road

    Nightmare continues on Apapa-Oshodi road

    It took the Nigerian Navy’s intervention last week to bring sanity to the Apapa expressway that has been long overtaken by tanker drivers. JUDE ISIGUZO and PRECIOUS IGBOWELUNDU report.

    With 9,100 roads, Lagos is expected to enjoy free traffic. But this is not so because many of the roads are bad. Motorists and commuters agonise daily plying the roads.

    Traffic around Apapa, which houses the ports, is a motorist’s hell. Traffic is usually at standstill for hours, with motorists inhaling noxious fumes from heavy duty trucks and tankers.

    This is why many jubilated last Thursday when the Nigeria Navy cleared the area of traffic bottlenecks in an all-night operation.

    With reporters in tow, the naval men moved from one end of the road to the other, removing obstacles to free flow of traffic. Motorists caught in the traffic by 12pm watched as the naval men worked.

    Some of the truck and tanker drivers forced off the road poured invectives on the government for “deriving joy from the poor’s anguish.”

    Tankers and trucks, blocked the road such that motorcycles or tricycles could not pass. Many of the truck drivers abandoned their vehicles to their conductors to sleep on make-shift beds and pillars beside the road.

    The Nation observed that the closure of the Mile2-Apapa, which is under repairs, has forced most motorists to take the Ijora axis as an alternative, but that route has not eased the traffic.

    Many factors are responsible for the gridlock. There are drivers’ indiscipline; extortion by law enforcement agencies and inefficiency by the concessionaire.

     

    The blame game

     

    The obviously infuriated truck and tanker drivers, who had been on the road for days, lamented that their plight is worsened by the absence of adequate parking spaces.

    A truck driver Mr. Daniel Ejiofor said: “ I have been a driver on this route for over 20 years and all these places with giant structures and tankfarms used to be parking spaces. They were all sold off under President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    “Now, the situation is even worse because security agencies allow trucks and tankers that have no business here to park on the road and scout for customers after collecting between N500 and N2,000 from them.

    “When these drivers now park, they leave their conductors in the vehicle and go in search of clients. So, they (security agencies) are further compounding the problem for us here. To make matters worse, the terminal operators are also guilty,” a driver who craved anonymity said.

    A business woman, Mrs Nonye Ifeanyichukwu, said: “The effects of the traffic snarl are encompassing; loss of manpower and time. To beat traffic, we no longer sleep. This is because we get home as late as 1am or 2am and leave for business by 3am. Before, we get  home around 10pm and leave for business around 4am but now, it is something else.

    “I had to boycott the Mile 2 axis for Western Avenue and now the tankers as well as other motorists now follow suite.”

    Motorists are enjoying the naval men’s intervention. All through the weekend, movement on the road was hazzle free, leaving many to wonder how long they would enjoy such luxury before they return to the gridlock.

    Despite the recent pledge by the Federal Roads Committee on Surveillance and Action against Road Abuse (FERCSARA) and Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to prosecute errant drivers, many have dismissed them.

    People’s lack of trust in the agencies may not be out of place, especially because both federal and state governments have over the years, made several promises on the roads that were not fulfilled – no thanks to the “powers that be” who own businesses that attract these trucks and tankers. Moreover, the government has not kept its promise that transportation of cargoes from the ports would be done by railway.

     

    What can be done?

     

    Motorists suggested that the government should develop a safer water transportation, so that most people who live in that area can use the waterways and leave the road for the heavy duty vehicles until a more permanent solution is provided.

    The Commander, NNS BEECROFT, Commodore Ovensenri Uwadiae, after a meeting with other stakeholders, advised the concessionaires (terminal operators) to incident their activities for each day and ensure that they run schedules that would allow the vehicles come in only when they are supposed to.

    “There is need for a multi-level approach, including the education of the drivers, because they need to know the situation does not favour them since they end up being in a particular position for hours without achieving anything.

    “We are equally appealing to tankfarm owners and concessionaires operating in the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) to work out modalities that will see  vehicles move in batches to the port and tankfarms.

    “Instead of this current situation where all vehicles including those without any business move to the port to scout for clients. That cannot help us because the spaces are not there for them to park and they end up blocking roads.

    “There should be proper schedule of vehicles coming to the port to either discharge or load cargos. Timings should be worked out for the vehicles to indicate the time and where they are to come so that the port will be ready to take them as they move in and save us this chaotic situation we are in.

    Uwadiae said the operation will be sustained round the clock until sanity returns to the road. “We will only allow those who have cargos to drop or pick them. Those who do not have proof that they have business in Apapa should either remain at the park provided for them or at Lagos-Ibadan Expressway,” the Commander said.

  • Tanker drivers allay strike fears

    The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) union of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has denied any impending industrial action to draw attention to the poor state of the Apapa-Oshodi expressway especially around the tank farms within the area.

    It said last Friday, that it is constrained because of the negative impact of such action on Nigerians.

    In a statement signed by its National Public Relations Officer Mr. Atanda Adebayo, the PTD said: “Despite the hardship the bad condition of the roads is causing our members, the union is constrained about taking any action that will have negative effect on the citizens.”

    He appealed to the Federal authorities to expedite action on the roads to make sure that it becomes motorable in the shortest possible time.

    The union said it is willing to take all tankers off the road to enable the contractors work.

    “The union is ready to work with the Federal Government by ensuring that all trucks on the road are evacuated if it would assist them complete the job on time. This option will be considered if an agreement is reached between the Federal Ministry of Works and our leaders, “ the statement noted.

    On the one week ultimatum given by the Lagos State Governor Mr. Babatunde Fashola to sanitise Creek road, the union said it will comply as a law abiding citizen.

    The drivers’ however observed that the ultimatum “has nothing to do with the Mile 2 traffic, but the Creek road gridlock.”

    He said though the governor had blamed the tanker drivers for the gridlock on Mile 2, he said the delay in fixing the road is blamed on its being a federal road.