NARTO, tanker drivers: Lagos Govt vacation order may worsen fuel crisis

The National Union of Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) on Monday said that the Lagos State Government vacation order to its members would have a devastating effect on the economy.
The PTD President, Mr Salimon Oladiti, said in Abuja that the multiplier effect of the directive might have grave consequences on the economy.
“The implication of the vacation order to truck owners/drivers will have devastating effect on the nation’s economy,” he warned.
Oladiti, who was represented by his spokesperson, Mr Abdulkadir Garba, said the drivers were ready to comply with the order.
He, however, said it would not be easy to return the trucks to Lagos to lift fuel after being chased out hurriedly.
The president said the union had met with the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and directed all its members to comply with the 48-hour ultimatum by the state government.
The state government on May 13 gave an ultimatum for the vacation of the trucks.
The ultimatum followed the persistent traffic gridlock in the Apapa area of the state which spilled over to other parts.
The ultimatum ordered all tanker drivers parked within 300 meters of fuel depots in the state to relocate to safe parking lots pending the availability of petroleum products.
Oladiti said though the time and condition given to the divers was not convenient, but as a law abiding union, the members obeyed.
He said that more than 6,000 trucks thronged Lagos to load fuel based on the information by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that it had 1.2 billion litres of fuel in stock.
The PTD president said the union discovered that only six fuel depots with 400 litres capacity of the 56 depots in Lagos had the product which resulted in the gridlocks.
“Now that we have obeyed the order and the truck are moving out of Lagos back to their different destinations without lifting products, it will take time to persuade them to go back to Lagos.
“This is because of the losses they have incurred which were as a result of uncertainty, the tanker owners and the drivers will be wary of taking another risk to come to Lagos even if there is fuel,’’ he said.
He expressed fears that the development would worsen the lingering fuel scarcity that had persists.