ABUJA – President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Abdulwaheed Omar has appealed to members of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to consider the impact of industrial actions on the masses.
He made the appeal while speaking at the 2014 National Conference of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTA) in Abuja on Wednesday.
Omar also called on Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the other unions in NUPENG to reconcile their differences and partner to achieve their legitimate demands.
“Let us work to see this partnership as this conference is showing.
“Let there be partnership among all the major stakeholders so that the masses will not continue to suffer.
“In the course of carrying out your legitimate jobs and pressing for your demands, you should partner with each other.
“NUPENG should partner with IPMAN while carrying out its own action, likewise the PTA,’’ Omar said.
Omar lauded PTD members, noting that their gatherings and elections “are now free of rancour’’.
Earlier, NUPENG president Achese Igwe commended the past leadership of PTA for taking the union to an enviable height, and enjoined delegates to be peaceful as they prepare to elect new executives.
“Election into offices is not a do-or-die affair.
“We condemn community interference in election in some states as is currently happening in Kaduna and Port Harcourt.’’
Igwe called on the Federal Government to repair some of the bad roads across the country in order to reduce tanker accidents on the highway.
Mr Osita Chidoka, the Corp Marshal, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), said the organisation planned to build a training centre in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country.
Chidoka said that in order to retrain drivers, the FRSC had sent about 40 drivers to France for training.
He further said that the FRSC would soon introduce speed limiter in commercial vehicles.
“We have decided that speed limiters will be introduced in commercial vehicles because of their over-speeding,’’ he said.
Chidoka, who said Nigeria had no record of the number of vehicles or drivers in the
country, promised that it would be available before his exit from the commission.
According to him, Nigeria loses 7,000 lives to road accidents yearly, and trucks are involved in 15 per cent of the figure.
Mr Kasim Batayya, the President of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners, who was a guest lecturer, said the association had rejected the bill for a law to prohibit daytime movement of trucks.
He said that the association also rejected a bill seeking to reduce the age of imported trucks.
Battaya insisted that if the FRSC must replace number plates with new ones, they must be provided free of charge. (NAN)
