Ike Amos
Abuja — Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO, Tuesday, ordered its members to resume operations, one day after it asks its members to withdraw the services of their trucks and tankers nationwide.
NARTO stated that this became necessary following the decision of the Federal Government to shift the implementation of the ban on trucks with 45,000-litre capacity.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, National President of NARTO, Alhaji Yusuf Othman, disclosed that the decision was reached following the intervention of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Director General of the Department of State Services, DSS, whereby it was agreed that the directive would now commence by January 1, 2021.
Othman explained that in the engagement they had with the NNPC and the DSS, the executive members of NARTO called for more time to enable its members meet the requirements as stipulated in the new directive and also allow for the re-engineering of their tankers.
He added that the new commencement date was to allow for effective dialogue among all the critical stakeholders affected by the ban and also allow for the mapping out strategies on how the directive would be implemented.
He said: “You may recall that yesterday (Monday), following an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council, NEC, of our great association, it was resolved that transport owners would park their trucks from 22nd – 23rd September, 2020 in protest of Federal Government’s decision to ban all trucks of over 45,000 litres capacity from loading petroleum products from all depots throughout the country.
“However, following the intervention of the Group Managing Director, GMD, of NNPC, Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, we are hereby directing all our members to resume operation nationwide.
“This is a directive that we revert to status quo until January 2021 to allow for wider consultation. We thank all members for their support and co-operation and praise their patience as we all wait to see to the peaceful resolution of the issues.”
