The Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch (PTD) of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has commended the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration’s renewed commitment to ensuring motorable federal highways across the country.
The Union also applauded what it called the government’s efforts to ensure stability in the supply of petroleum products.
The PTD-NUPENG gave the commendation as part of its resolutions at the end of its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, over the weekend. A communiqué signed by Comrades Augustine Egbon and Oluchi Chinagorom, national chairman and national secretary of the Union, respectively, noted that the commendation was in response to the recent approval of 13 road projects across the country by the Federal Executive Council at the end of its meeting presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Among the federal roads approved were the rehabilitation of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Road, the Ore-Ondo-Akure Road, the 300 km Benin-Akure-Ilesha Road, and the rehabilitation of the Aba-Owerri and Mubi-Maiduguri road sections, among others.
The PTD-NUPENG noted that the rehabilitation of these roads would go a long way in ensuring the safety of its members on the highways and guaranteeing an uninterrupted supply of petroleum products from the depots to the retail outlets.
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“We recall that our agitations and several interventions to ensure that the last administration put the federal highways in good shape only fell on deaf ears. The effects of the bad condition of the highways resulted in accidents, leading to the loss of lives of our members and their trucks, which are their only means of livelihood. We cannot but express our satisfaction that the present administration is already taking positive steps to address some of our grievances. We implore the Federal Ministry of Works to ensure that the contractors move to the sites in a timely manner and provide Nigerians with value for the public funds being spent by the federal government to put the roads in good condition.”
The Union, however, appealed to the federal government to give equal consideration to the rehabilitation of the Calabar-Itu Federal Highway, noting that the current deplorable condition of the road is a significant hindrance to the movement of petroleum tankers.
The NEC of the PTD-NUPENG also commended the recent initiative to ensure stability in the supply of petroleum products. “Lifting of products at the depots has increased substantially, and it is a significant relief for our members. We want to appeal to the federal government to fulfill its assurance to revive the nation’s four refineries to function optimally.”
The PTD-NUPENG expressed concern over what it described as the high-handedness of a task force established by the office of the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, aimed at preventing the movement of adulterated petroleum products.
“We wish to bring to the attention of the IGP that his men have been impounding petroleum tankers almost indiscriminately, even when the drivers provide incontrovertible evidence of the genuine source of such products and loading depots. A good example is the recent incident on the Funtua-Kaduna road. For almost two months now, the IGP Task Force has not released the tanker, even though it has been discovered that the product being conveyed was not adulterated. We are appealing to the office of the IGP to ensure the release of the tanker.”
The Union, in its resolutions, also passed a vote of confidence in its national officers. The communiqué declared that it was satisfied with the recent efforts by the national secretariat in collaboration with units and zonal officers to guarantee a decent living wage for members. It urged the national executive to sustain its initiatives on training and retraining of truck drivers.
Investigations revealed that the PTD-NUPENG national officers, under the leadership of Comrade Egbon, were elected at a special delegates conference held last July.
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