Following the dismantling of police checkpoints from all federal roads across the country by the acting-Inspector General of Police; Mohammed Abubakar, petroleum tanker drivers have heaved a sigh of relieve, saying that the removal of the checkpoints has further reduced the number of hours spent on the road and the resulting traffic gridlocks.
Following the dismantling of police checkpoints from all federal roads across the country by the acting-Inspector General of Police; Mohammed Abubakar, petroleum tanker drivers have heaved a sigh of relieve, saying that the removal of the checkpoints has further reduced the number of hours spent on the road and the resulting traffic gridlocks.
Two executive members of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Comrade Owolabi Jimoh and Comrade Omotayo Owonikoko told Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week that the tanker drivers are happy over the removal of police checkpoints, because this has been a major impediment to their movement when travelling.
Comrade Owolabi told our correspondent that at the just concluded quarterly National Executive Meeting (NEC) of the union in Kaduna State, members of the union, especially those travelling from the west, had opened up on their experiences and ordeals in the hands of police men at check points and the subsequent relieve that their removal has brought.
“From Ibadan to Lagos, it usually takes us four to five hours to make the journey, this is because there are about 28 checkpoints, but now that the police checkpoints have been dismantled, it takes us one and half hour from Ibadan to Lagos” he said.
Comrade Owonikoko said that the checkpoints are the major causes of the high traffic on the roads and the cause of most of the accidents on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
He advised that the Federal Government should increase the monthly salary of police personnel in order for them not to keep coming back to the road.
Owonikoko said that the face-off between the union and LASTMA can be curtailed because it is just within Lagos State alone.
However, the recent direction by the Inspector General of Police that the police should start the patrol of all federal highways across the country with immediate effect; reverting his earlier direction seem to have cast fears on the tanker drivers because according to them, the extortion on the roads may continue.
The IG, who met with his senior officers in Abuja last week to review the security situation in the country, had said that the patrols would be complemented by a Rapid Response Structure.
He however ruled out the return of roadblocks, which were being used by corrupt policemen to extort money from motorists and commuters, saying the issue was closed; he noted the apprehension of the public about the increasing robbery in the country and other criminal activities, pledging to keep the roads safe for travelers.
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