The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO, has warned members against cargo diversion, bunkering and smuggling of petroleum products.
The National President, NARTO, Othman Yusuf Lawal, who gave the warning during the second quarterly National Executives Council and States Chairmen Joint Meeting in Lagos, also noted that the national body would not hesitate to hand over members caught in such acts over to law enforcement agencies.
Othman said truck owners, under NARTO, must warn their drivers and assistants to adhere strictly to the constitution, stressing that illegalities would not be accepted by the national body.
According to him, “The association has a name to protect. Transporters involved in such movement of cargoes must desist from such practice for the benefit of the association and the nation.”
Othman stated that the association had an internal mechanism to monitor drivers engaging in such an illegal practice.
“There is a need for us to ensure that our members are not involved in petroleum products bunkering and diversion of petroleum products across the country, because all these things are done by trucks and the trucks are driven by drivers who are our members. If we avoid these things, it is in our own interest because we have no reason to be involved in all these bad things which are affecting us and the economy.
“We are devising an internal mechanism which we will not make public. We will not fold our hands and watch. We will ensure enforcement, identify culpable members and hand them over to the government for appropriate punishment.”
On the issue of extortion of truck drivers by state security agencies, he added that talks were ongoing to engage the governments from the South-West to end the anomalies, noting that such practices often affected business and investments.
“On the way forward to tackle extortion in the South-West, we have direct interface with the state governments. We have tried to do that in the past but it did not work out.”
