Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners NARTO have concluded plans to proceed on a warning strike over Fuel Scarcity.
NARTO is the umbrella organization of commercial vehicle owners responsible for the haulage of petroleum products, cargoes, and movement of goods and passengers within the country and the West African region.
Alhaji Yusuf Lawal Othman, National President of the Association disclosed this to reporters in Abuja on Monday.
He stated that the federal governments decision to ban petroleum trucks above 45,000 litres capacity from plying the roads was responsible for the warning strike.
According to him, a 10-days ultimatum would be issued on Sept 24, which would be followed by an indefinite strike.
“In view of the above, we are therefore constraint to allow the decision of our members to park their trucks from today Sept 22 – 23rd as warning and furthermore, issue a 10-days ultimatum with effect from Sept 24, 2020 for a full blown withdrawal of service.
“If such scenarios occur, we earnestly plead with those who will lose employment, income and the general public that will be negatively affected by this avoidable situation.”
Following the Fuel Scarcity , NARTO lamented that the huge investments the owners of the trucks who had run into debts incurred in executing the mandate given by the previous administration were not considered.
“This move by the government will definitely be counterproductive considering the fact that sudden withdrawal of these trucks will impact heavily and negatively on the operations of our members and the withdrawal will also create heavy gaps in the supply and distribution chains.
“This is bearing in mind the fact that NARTO, being the owners of these trucks, is an integral part of the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the nation.
“We wish to also remind the government to be mindful of the coming ember months that is characterised by heightened activities, thus requiring the use of such high capacity trucks to curb the scarcity.
“In view of the above, we are, therefore, constrained to allow the decision of all our members to park their trucks as from tomorrow 22 to 23, September 2020, as warning.
“And we furthermore, issue 10 day-ultimatum with effect from 24, September 2020 for a full-blown withdrawal of service.”
