The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN has scored the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, low in the implementation of the Safe to Load, STL programme at the depots.
The displeasure was registered by Mr Robert Obi, Chairman of IPMAN in Cross River during a Town Hall Meeting between stakeholders in the petroleum sector and FRSC on Thursday in Calabar.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports that the STL programme applies to all trucks that transport fuel and other hazardous products from facilities operated by oil companies to ensure that the articulated vehicles are in good shape and maintained every six months.
Obi said allowing tankers that have a lot of shortfalls to load, is not just a risk to the society but to the business owner who pays so much to purchase these products to supply to citizens.
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“The FRSC officers in charge of the depot operations should sit up because as of today, a truck of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS is about N30 million, yet the trucks to convey them have different faults.
“We must refuse to be compromised and disallow any truck that does not meet up with the standard from loading, if you do, you will be reducing risk against Nigerians and People’s investments.
“We need stronger collaboration between the stakeholders and FRSC to ensure adequate enforcement of the STL scheme and also ensure that tanker and trailer drivers park in the allocated parks and not on the roads,” he stated.
In his remarks, SC Istifanus Ibrahim, FRSC Sector Commander for Cross River Command said the STL programme was an initiative of the corps to check the excesses of articulated vehicle drivers and reduce road crashes.
Represented by Officer Joseph Abuo, Head of Operations FRSC, Cross River Command, Ibrahim said however, the corps has faced some challenges in implementing the STL initiative at the depots
According to him, some of these challenges include transportation of the products at night, allowing motor boys to drive trucks with products and the refusal to process or renew their driver’s license among others.
He appealed to all stakeholders to join hands with the Corp to surmount the challenges to ensure safety on Nigerian roads.
On his part, Mr Ademola Aderoye, Depot Manager of Orix Energies said having the meeting to discuss issues that mitigate smooth loading and transportation of petroleum products was commendable.
Aderoye who was represented by Mr Effanga Bassey, Head of Health, Safety, Environment and Quality, HSE in Orix Energies however, noted that before strict enforcement is carried out, there must be enlightenment campaigns involving the Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD taskforce.
Other issues that the FRSC in collaboration with other stakeholders decided to work on include a harmonised checklist for trucks by all relevant agencies, an on-the-spot assessment of the roads leading to the depots,
Others include issues of excessive roadblocks along major highways which causes crashes and the impunity of truck drivers who park on the roadsides instead of the parks, among others.
