Tanker drivers under the aegis of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) operating in Apapa Lagos have sent a Save-Our-Soul (SOS) message to President Muhammadu Buhari following the recent killing of one of their members; Comrade Abass Salmon by a Naval rating attached to Kirikiri tank farms.
Tanker drivers under the aegis of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) operating in Apapa Lagos have sent a Save-Our-Soul (SOS) message to President Muhammadu Buhari following the recent killing of one of their members; Comrade Abass Salmon by a Naval rating attached to Kirikiri tank farms.
In a statement released last week by the Chairman of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Unit of the union, Comrade Salimon Oladiti, he urged President Buhari to withdraw naval officers from controlling traffic at the ever-busy Apapa Oshodi expressway, arguing that this is a job for the union.
He argued that the continued stay of the navy at tank farms is tantamount to corruption, a scourge which the Buhari administration has promised not to tolerate any longer.
Shipping Position Daily investigations at the Kirikiri tank farms revealed that the Naval Ratings allegedly usually collect N500 from each of the trucks in order to allow them park on the bridge in front of NIMASA Search and Rescue Centre.
Our correspondent recalls that at about 9am on October 1st, Salmon (a motor boy) was said to have refused to part with usual N500 demanded by the navy, an action that was taken as affront by the naval ratings.
One of them was said to have chased the moving truck and allegedly dragged the motor boy out. Unfortunately, Salmon reportedly fell right under the truck and was crushed by the moving truck.
The PTD leadership has however lamented in their statement last week that the operations of the naval officers have not only been impeding the loading of petroleum products and free flow of traffic, but have also caused untimely death of drivers.
It said, “Navy illegal operations are the major problems of tanker drivers, there are so much extortions, harassment and beating of our members who fail to meet their demand. “We want the activities of the Navy to be checked, they are not trained to be controlling traffic. Their activities are affecting our operations. “We have recorded two deaths now; we don’t want more people to die due to their extortions and illegal operations. We want them to be withdrawn from the road.
“In fact, most of the gridlock in Apapa area are caused by the activities of the Navy who will not allow our members to pass without paying them.
“Those that were unable to meet their demands faced stringent punishment and harassment.
“Just as one of us, Comrade Abbass Salmon, a motor boy, was crushed to death on Oct. 1 on Kirikiri Bridge after being stoned by a naval officer because the driver of the truck refused to pay Navy demands.
“The driver, Mr. Ibrahim Kasali is currently on admission in the hospital, if our members are not safe, we will leave the depot and tank farms for the Navy.
“Our members are scared seeing the Navy with guns now, we can be orderly without them, their activities may soon cause fuel scarcity as some of our members outside Lagos do not want to come to load at the Apapa depots again,’’ the statement said.
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