By Temitope Adebayo
The National President of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Yusuf Lawal Othman, has called for the review of existing road policies to curtail insecurity across the country.
Othman said the current policies governing road infrastructure and its uses have become obsolete in the face of the high rate of insecurity on Nigerian roads.
In his address at a two-day meeting of the association in Abuja, the NARTO boss bemoaned insecurity that had caused heavy casualties on members of the association, stressing that transportation business in Nigeria has become one of the most difficult in the last four years.
He recalled how the Covid-19 pandemic crippled transportation businesses, a situation he said affected the value chain.
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According to him, the situation worsened to a point that the Federal Government’s tax credit mitigation measure could not help matters, as insecurity, bad roads and other associated malaise were confronting the industry without end in sight.
He said: “Unfortunately, the transport industry was not immune to global challenges, including the negative impact of Covid-19 pandemic which led to loss of revenue and many businesses in the last four years.
“During this time, many vehicle owners completely went down and had to park their trucks and vehicles due to harsh operational conditions.
“The bad and inadequate road infrastructure constitutes an impediment to seamless movement of people, goods and services despite special funds allocated by the Federal Government, like the N631 million tax credit. More so, the situation may worsen during the rainy season”
He lamented that activities of bandits and kidnappers have made life miserable for drivers. He cited instances where drivers were kidnapped while on duty and some having their trucks hijacked at gunpoint along some critical routes in the country.
Othman said, “Many drivers and their assistants have lost their lives in such incidents. While commending the effort of security agencies in tackling these problems, we pray the Federal Government will review the security policies.”
On the removal of fuel subsidy, he said the deregulation of petroleum downstream sector is commendable, but that it has posed substantial challenges dictated by demand and supply dynamics with regards to marketers and transporters.
Speaking earlier, the Executive Vice President, Petroleum Downstream Sector, Dapo Segun who represented the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, commended the association for their cooperation during the nation’s tough times.
“We in NNPC see NARTO as a very important stakeholder and when you call once, we respond thrice.
“We feel your pains. We feel that so much investment has been put into the economy and the situation sometimes makes you worry about the viability of that investment.
“I would like to encourage you to continue doing what you are doing. In every business or economic circle, there are always good times and tough times. It is a common saying that tough times never last, but tough people and tough associations like NARTO last,” he said.
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