Two clerics, Monsignor Gabriel Osu and Lukmon Abdulraheem yesterday called for the reduction in the number of petroleum tankers plying the nation’s roads.
They said this would reduce the incessant incidents of explosion and accidents caused by the tankers’ menace.
Osu, who is the Director of Social Communication, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, urged the Federal Government to ensure that positive measures were put in place to revive the nation’s pipelines.
“By reviving the pipelines, the number of fuel tankers on the road especially on the highways will be reduced.
“Optimal use of the pipelines will mean that tankers do not have to travel very far again to supply petroleum products after loading at the depot.
“Anybody with a sound mind will be sad, I am not surprise this is happening, most of the tankers are rickety, they are not roadworthy and the drivers are not trained.
“The roads are not good, everything from the roads down to the tanker drivers are of low quality and many of the drivers are hooked on to hard drugs including taking Indian hemp,” Osu said.
Abdulraheem, a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, said that the over concentration of fuel depots in one place had over stretched the roads leaving them in deplorable state.
He urged tanker owners to ensure that their vehicles were constantly maintained to prevent such ugly occurrences in the future.
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