By Olawale Asake
The National Orientation Agency, NOA, on Friday met with Tanker Drivers in Akinyele Area of Ibadan, Oyo State in an effort to reduce requent tanker accidents in the country.
At the meeting ,Director-General of the Agency, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu urged the drivers to always ensure that their vehicles were in good condition before travelling.
He also told them to always obey traffic rules and avoid consuming alcohol while driving.
Mallam Issa-Onilu, however, gave the drivers assurance that President Bola Tinubu’s administration was committed to fixing all the failed portions of roads in the country to reduce road crashes and preserve the sanctity of lives.
The NOA Director-General also warned Nigerians to desist from the act of scooping fuel from fallen tankers, noting that, scooping of fuel had often resulted to loss of many lives and property.
He expressed the President ‘s grief over recent tanker explosions in some parts of the country, including Enugu and Niger States where many lives were lost.
Mallam Issa-Onilu appealed to Nigerians to always be their brothers keepers by rendering assistance to the people in need, instead of looking for ways of looting from scenes of any unfortunate incident.
He raised the hope of Nigerians that policies being put in place by the Federal Government to cushion the effect of economic hardship would soon yield positive result.
Earlier, Director, National Orientation Agency, NOA, Oyo State Directorate, Dr Olukemi Afolayan, promised the Tanker Drivers Association that the Agency would always be in touch with them to get their complaints, commendations and requests across to the Federal Government
Responding, some of the members of the Tanker Drivers Association in Akinyele, Akinyele Local Government of Oyo State, commended the National Orientation Agency, NOA, for the meeting.
They called on the government to build Trailer Parks with Modern Facilities for them to relax anytime they embarked on long journey, to help their physical and mental fitness for the journey ahead of them.