Tanker drivers begin nationwide protest today

Johnson Babajide, Lokoja - 12.05.2008

Tanker drivers throughout the nation will today commence a nationwide protest over the bad condition of Nigerian roads.

According to a source close to the Nigerian Tribune, the decision to commence the protest was agreed to at a meeting held in Lagos recently by all the stakeholders in the petroleum industry.

The source explained that the protest was to send signals to the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the state of Nigerian roads and ensure that bad ones were rehabilitated, while new ones should be constructed as soon as possible.

The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has been complaining to the Federal Government over the issue for about six years and nothing positive has come out of it, hence the protest to drive home their point.

The PTD, according to the source, was not comfortable with the rate at which funds meant for developmental projects were being squandered and embezzled while Nigerians suffer lack of necessary basic amenities.

Efforts to get some of the officials of the PTD to comment on the issue proved abortive as they were said to be in a crucial meeting.