The National Union of Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) has directed all its members to comply with a 48-hour ultimatum issued by the Lagos State government for the removal of all trucks on the Apapa-Oshodi expressway.
The union at a joint news conference with the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) in Abuja on Friday also faulted the Federal Government’s claim that it has pumped 1.2 billion litres of petrol into the market.
According to the union officials, only six fuel depots out of the 56 in Lagos State are loading the product.
The National Presidents of NARTO, Kassimi Bataiya and PTDU, Salimon Oladiti, attributed the long queue of tankers to the slow process.
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Movement of vehicles in the area have been hampered by the presence of the tankers on the road. Roads leading to Apapa have been occupied by the trucks said to have come from different parts of the nation to get fuel.
The gridlock has started affecting persons going to work in the morning and the Lagos State government issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the tanker drivers within 300 meters to fuel depots in the state to leave, pending the availability of fuel.
The long queue of tankers has extended to the Eko Bridge in the Lagos Island axis and Mile 2 Expressway in the Oshodi-Apapa axis.
The ultimatum was issued after a meeting between the state government and National Union of Petroleum and Natu¬ral Gas Workers (NUPENG), PTD, NARTO, among other unions in Ikeja on Wednesday.
Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Kayode Opeifa, said it was agreed at the meeting that tanker drivers queuing between 200 and 300 metres to the fuel depots should leave Lagos within 48 hours pending the availability of the commodity.
He said information available from the marketers revealed that there was no fuel in the depots to be lifted by the tankers.
(Channels Tv)