PETROLEUM products tanker drivers nationwide yesterday issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government within which it is to rehabilitate all bad roads in the country.
The tanker drivers, under the aegis of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) union, in a memo to the government urged President Umaru Musa Ya’Adua to revisit the huge amount expended on road projects nationwide.
According to them, the current state of roads in the country has put the lives of drivers in jeopardy, as many lives have been lost between January and now.
In a telephone chat with The Guardian yesterday, spokesperson for the drivers in the South-West, Tokunbo Korodo, said about 100 lives have been lost due to the bad roads in the country.
According to him, the deplorable state of the nation’s refineries, coupled with the inactivity of various depots across the country, had compelled the drivers to move products across the country by road, especially at night.
He said the 21-day ultimatum was given to government to save the lives of tanker drivers nationwide.
To further buttress their grievances, Korodo said all tanker drivers nationwide would from today display green leaves on their trucks in solidarity with their demand.
Petroleum tanker drivers also took to the streets of Port Harcourt yesterday with various placards.
The protesters lamented that the roads leading to the country’s refineries are now death traps to the people.
National Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr. Bassey Harry, said he was fully aware of the action of its members.
He said that though the poor condition of roads in the country had remained a daily cause of lamentation among members for a very long time, the government had refused to yield to their calls.
“I am fully aware of the strike. This is an issue we have been crying out on for a very long time. We have made efforts to let the government know that the Port Harcourt refinery road is a death trap; anybody who takes a ride to that road will testify that the road is a death trap. Yet the government has neglected our cry,” he explained.
Harry said if government did not react speedily to the group’s warning strike, its members would proceed on an indefinite strike.
“If the government does not listen to us, we will withdraw our services because life is more important than the job itself. Without life, you cannot think of distributing products to the public,” he said.