FRSC set to prosecute erring tanker drivers, depot owners in Apapa

ASIDE from stiff fines, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) may soon begin to prosecute reckless tanker and trailer drivers in Lagos state.

The measure is part of an action plan agreed at a stakeholders’ meeting in Ikeja yesterday, to engender safety culture among heavy-duty vehicle drivers and reduce carnage on the roads.

Also, Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MMAN) and Depots and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DPMAN) in Lagos have agreed to adopt a uniform tagging and programming system for all trucks plying Apapa to ease the perennial gridlock in the area.

From the action plan unanimously endorsed by the parties at the end of the session on Monday, it is now a criminal offence to drive a trailer or truck with an unlatched container. Driving either trailer or truck on the right lane of a highway or exceeding the approved 60km/hour speed limit is also prohibited.

Other resolutions adopted were: the mandatory use of safety valve for the truck manhole and discharge points; consideration of electronic interface that reports trucks that do not meet the minimum standard; the use of truck programming (batching) at the loading points in Apapa, while the union of Petroleum Tanker Drivers are to ensure that unscheduled trucks are barred from depots.

Also, the need to rehabilitate the roads around Tin Can, Trinity and Second Gate; the need to remove old tankers from the road; more of legal prosecution than payment of fines and adoption of the slogan: “If it is not safe, don’t do it,”

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other marketers should stop collecting money from buyers, where the content is not available while the issue of area boys is be addressed by the Federal Government, which should also make other depots across the nation functional to decongest the more than 1000 tankers in Lagos at any given time.

FRSC Corps Marshall, Boboye Oyeyemi, said the list of resolutions was a follow-up to other stakeholders’ meetings held in the past, with the sole aim of reducing traffic gridlock and carnage on the roads.

Oyeyemi noted that the measures had become imperative in the light of the perennial problem of tanker explosions, trailer accidents and gridlock due to the nuisance constituted by tanker drivers, especially in Lagos state.

While commending the Lagos State government for its efforts in the Apapa area, he said such efforts that brought few days of respite earlier last week had shown that the problem is not beyond actual enforcement and collective will of all stakeholders.

He said while the FRSC was due to begin training of all tanker drivers in the state, it was high time the depots, marketers, tank farm owners and tanker drivers association began to operate a uniform tagging system and programming in line with their holding capacity.

According to him, we at the FRSC believe if we all work as a team, we will have a system that the nation can be proud of. We believe that the depot owners must also begin to disallow tankers that do not meet the minimum standards from loading in their depots.

“We need all tank farm owners to adopt a common schedule to avoid the wrong tankers heading into Apapa to constitute a nuisance. The Corps recognises that the depots and tank farm owners are strategic stakeholders in this and they will give us the entrenchment of highway safety. We need to join hands together to address the problem.

“I believe we can improve on our culture, driving behaviour, our naughtiness on the highways and improve our working together as a team to keep our roads more safer, drivers obey traffic rules, independent marketers comply with minimum safety standards and at the end of the year, we can celebrate a rebirth among our tanker drivers,“ he said.

Executive Secretary, DPMAN, Oluwole Adewole, agreed with the Corps Marshall on programming for tankers coming into Apapa, saying there was no reason why all tankers should not be scheduled into batches and to only come to their designated depots when content is available.

Secretary of the Committee of Directors, Ibafo Depot Owners, Victor Enabele, said it was high time the relevant agencies had begun strict enforcement of traffic rules, to ensure tankers only queue on service-lane and on a straight line.

Southwest Public Relations Officer for NUPENG-PTD, Tayo Aboyeyi, said there would be very little the body could do, without a uniform programming and loading schedule in place.