As a result of the recurring incidents of petroleum tanker diversions and petroleum tanker accidents on Nigerian roads, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers has instructed its members nationwide that henceforth there will no longer be night travelling for tanker drivers and that any driver caught will have to face the consequences.
Even though Shipping Position Daily investigations revealed that this is not the first time that the union is sounding the warning to its members, majority of the drivers have refused to obey the instruction.
As a result of the recurring incidents of petroleum tanker diversions and petroleum tanker accidents on Nigerian roads, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers has instructed its members nationwide that henceforth there will no longer be night travelling for tanker drivers and that any driver caught will have to face the consequences.
Even though Shipping Position Daily investigations revealed that this is not the first time that the union is sounding the warning to its members, majority of the drivers have refused to obey the instruction.
Our correspondent last week gathered that the complacency of the tanker drivers, coupled with recent developments have made the NUPENG national body to sound the warning again through the various units to the tanker drivers.
Part of the instructions which was recently given to the union members is that henceforth, there will be no night driving for petroleum tankers, all movements must stop by 7:30pm, after which they are to park anywhere that they find themselves.
While evaluating the level of compliance to these instructions by the drivers, an executive of the union at the Techno oil unit; Mr. Onwundiwe Onward said that many of the drivers have not been complying with the instruction due to the traffic congestion around Lagos.
According to him, many of them are usually still trapped in traffic when the curfew time is due.
He however warned that any driver caught in the act is on his own, adding that “the only reason why Lagos is different is because of the traffic jam, so we advice them to park within this arena before they move in the night as a result of the congestion on the road, some of them usually take matters into their hands, but it is in their own risk because anyone caught after this time will be penalised”.
“There is no how the procedure should not be followed because it was given to us from the national level and we have to let the tanker drivers under us to know the rules and regulations, especially in terms of any accident on the roads. The first thing we did was to call them together and tell them, you cannot just impose law on them without first of all warning them, they must have been warned before penalties will follow”, he pointed out.
Another executive of the union, Comrade Emmanuel Ayodeji told our correspondent that the instruction was first given last year at the union’s annual quarterly meeting which held in Enugu, but the union hierarchy has recently reminded each unit to implement the law fully.
The other instructions that was reeled out by the union and which Shipping Position Daily sighted includes; there must be a reflector at the back of every tank, all trucks must have rear light and all the lights must be in good working condition, all trucks must have good extra tyres, all vehicle particulars must be complete including drivers license, identification cards and membership cards of all petroleum tanker drivers must be up to date, while all vehicles must be equipped with fire extinguisher and all safety gadgets.
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