The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) says it will partner with the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) to ensure petroleum tankers strictly adhere to safety standards for haulage operations.
This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by Mr Sani Abdullahi, the Media Assistant to the FRSC Corps Marshal, Mr Boboye Oyeyemi.
According to the statement, the decision for partnership was reached when the FRSC Corps Marshal led other officers to visit the Executive Secretary, PEF, Hajia Asabe Ahmed in her office in Abuja.
It stated that the FRSC team were on the visit as part of their consultations with key stakeholders on how to ensure safer road environment for haulage operations in the country.
“The two partners resolved to put more strict measures that could guarantee that the safety standards put in place are not compromised by tanker operators transporting petroleum products across the country. “The FRSC is concerned with the rate of human and material losses suffered in the various crashes recorded across some states in the country.
“The places presently affected are Onitsha in Anambra, Idimu and Iyana Ipaja in Lagos, Osogbo in Osun state. The FRSC has discovered that most of the crashes that occur can be traced to poor mechanical status of the vehicles and lack of adherence to safety standards by the drivers. The Commission is already consulting with relevant stakeholders on how to avert reoccurrence of such incidents and we acknowledge the strategic position of PEF in this area. PEF will help to create orderliness in the operations of petroleum tankers in the country,” Oyeyemi said.
The Corps Marshall noted that the FRSC was set to enforce the speed limiting device, which would become effective from September 1.
Responding, the PEF Executive Secretary said that the visit of FRSC team would go a long way in creating closer collaboration between the two organisations.
Ahmed said that the two organisations would ensure collective efforts on safety of petroleum tankers on the nation’s highways.
“For the nation to attain the desired level of safety for tanker operations there is the need to involve other stakeholders, like the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in the campaign. I believe that if all the relevant agencies in haulage operations come together to work on the safety standards for petroleum tanker operations, crashes involving the vehicles will reduce drastically. So, we have to work together to achieve the desired goal of ensuring smoother and safer operations of haulage vehicles on our roads,” she said.
It would be recalled that Petroleum Tanker Drivers, an arm of NUPENG, has said that any tanker driver without the speed limiter installed in his vehicle will not be allowed to load petroleum products from any of its depots.
The FRSC recently organised a stakeholders’ summit for haulage operators in the country where stakeholders agreed on how to stem the spate of truck crashes on the nation’s roads.
The stakeholders agreed on enforcement of retro-reflective tapes on haulage vehicles for better identification by other road users when it is dark.
Oyeyemi recently ordered seizure of any truck that has its container unlashed while moving on the roads.
By Pita Ochai
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