SAFETY TIPS FOR TRUCK DRIVING IN THE RAIN: “…Never lose sight of what’s in front of you, regardless of reduced visibility. Stay focused. Keep your eyes on the road and two hands on the wheel. Looking away can cause you to unexpectedly flip over, skid and swerve, or crash. Avoiding or giving in to distractions can mean the difference between life and death…”
NAHCO BOWS TO AGENTS’ DEMAND: REDUCES CARGO TARIFF BY 20%: “…He said NAHCO and ANCLA settled for 20% increase last Thursday, adding “The new agreement means that NAHCO would have to revise downward the initial 30% increase it had started implementing while ANCLA would move up from zero to 20%. Under the new arrangement importers and exporters would now pay N48 per kilogram for cargo…”
AMBODE CAUTIONS LASTMA, VIO OVER HARASSMENT OF MOTORISTS: “…The governor noted that technology was being used to send message of reminders about vehicle documents to people, adding that such technology could also be adopted in tracking down people who committed traffic offences without forcibly seizing their vehicles…”
ONITSHA PETROL TANKER ACCIDENT CLAIMS 69 LIVES!: “According to a news report just coming in, no fewer than 69 persons were burnt to death on Sunday evening when a trailer loaded with Premium Motor Spirit otherwise known as petrol that was descending from Army barracks side of Onitsha Enugu express way lost control and rammed into the Asaba Motor Park…”
INFRASTRUCTURE BANK, MARINE EXPRESS PARTNER TO CONSTRUCT LAGOS METRO RAIL“…Marina Express Train Service Ltd (METSL) is to collaborate with The Infrastructure Bank (TIB) to construct the proposed Lagos Metro Rail Transit (LMRT) Red Line project. Minister of Transport, Sen. Idris Umar, stated this in Abuja at the ceding and handing over of the Right of Way (ROW) for the Iddo-Agbado Corridor for the proposed rail line…”
CONOIL ACQUIRES AIRCRAFT FUELLERS TO BOOST OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY: “…The company said in a statement that the new bowsers have combined storage capacity of 62,000 liters and the ability to refuel aircraft at 1,500 liters per minute…With the acquisition of the bowsers, the company said its Jet A1 fueling capacity to local and international airlines has increased by 100 percent from 10 million liters to 20 million liters per month…”
TRANSPORT BUSINESS IN NIGERIA REQUIRES 100% ATTENTION—Chisco Boss: “…Transport business in Nigeria is very difficult and, therefore, requires 100% attention. You have to leave everything to face it. Second, you have to decide the type of vehicle to use given the peculiar nature of our roads. Nigerians are used to certain types of vehicles. Three, you need to train your drivers very well. You need to decide the route you want to ply. You may decide to develop a route. Five, you have to look for committed and passionate people. Then you leave the rest to God….”
THE LINK BETWEEN ALCOHOL, SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND ACCIDENTAL INJURY OR DEATH IN HAULAGE: “…Kayode Olagunju, a Corps Commander with the Federal Road Safety Commission revealed that between 2007and June 2010, a total of 4,017 tanker/trailer crashes were recorded on Nigerian roads, with a yearly average of 1,148 crashes, monthly average of 96 crashes and a total of 4,076 persons killed in such crashes involving tankers and trailers. From 2011 till date, the trend has not changed much…”
HOW SUBSTANCE AND ALCOHOL ABUSE AFFECT TRUCK DRIVING: “…Once swallowed, alcohol enters the stomach and small intestine, where small blood vessels carry it to the bloodstream. Approximately 20% of alcohol is absorbed through the stomach out of which about 5% immediately goes to the blood stream through throat/mouth linings. The remaining 80% is absorbed through the small intestine…Alcohol is metabolized by the liver, where enzymes break down the alcohol. Understanding the rate of metabolism is critical…”
ALTERNATIVE ALCOHOL OR NON-COMMERCIAL ALCOHOL USE AMONG TRAILER/TANKER DRIVERS: “…Many studies have shown that a significant number of truck drivers take concoctions, although many would feign ignorance that they do not know if the concoctions contain alcohol. Meanwhile many of them still take commercial alcohol concurrently. The most commonly used non-commercial alcohol or concoctions include Agbo-jedi, paraga, agbo iba and opaeyin…”
SOME TRENDS ASSOCIATED WITH DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE AMONG TRUCK DRIVERS: “…A UNAIDS Report of 2007 indeed established known association between increased high risk sexual behaviour and psychoactive substance use. This might be because current alcohol users tend to socialize more, possibly go out more with peers and therefore are more likely to be exposed to other aspects of outdoor social life which most times include friendship and relationship with the opposite sex. It is not uncommon hearing of some truck drivers having sex partners at most or every truck stop…”
CHECKMATING A GROWING MENACE: ALCOHOL, DRUG ABUSE AND TRUCK DRIVING: “…First, there is no legal basis for determining the legal limits of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in the Nigerian Traffic laws (Welcome and Perez 2010). And if peradventure it is hidden somewhere in our laws and it eluded the study, one is yet to come across a commercial passenger or trailer/tanker driver that knows what BAC is all about. We can also categorically state that we have never come across any traffic or law enforcement officer administering the sobriety test on any commercial driver…”
ALCOHOL, SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND HAULAGE: WAY FORWARD: “…tanker drivers use psychoactive substances during stop over with the most commonly used drug being alcohol. The use of non-commercial alcohol is quite prevalent…at the motor parks and just before leaving home. There is a need for more concerted education on the dangers of alcohol and other drugs to be specifically targeted at trailer-tanker drivers in Nigeria…However, bad driving on the part of the truck driver is in itself a clear and present danger to passenger transportation. Fixing this unhealthy skewness in drunk-driving sensitization…”
“NAMA IS NOT OVERSTAFFED…” – Abdulsalam Part 1: “…These airlines are Nigerian carriers and they are a part of the system. The people really affected are not the ones that had problem .Nobody flies on credit, you have to pay for the ticket. If we ground the airlines, people will be affected. At the end of the day those that will have the problem are the major users of airlines’ services. They are the people that are badly affected because some people might have planned their trip for the next one month and then you hold them back because the airline is not flying. This will affect business in the country. If we could work things out amicably, it would go a long way to solve the problem…”
“NAMA IS NOT OVERSTAFFED…” – Abdulsalam Part 2: “…We can take charge of our resources, activities and continue to run our operations but what we need to do is to be able to plan and prioritize. And even for us we know we are getting to that point. Before the price of oil even dropped we were already looking ahead to when the government would say “go and be on your own.” To be honest, most of these projects we are getting money from government are projects awarded in 2005, 2009, and 2010. These are the ones we want to close…”
WHY FUEL SCARCITY MAY LINGER FAR BEYOND THE MAY 29TH HANDOVER DATE: “…now the Major Marketers under the aegis of The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) through its Executive Secretary, Obafemi Olawore have come out to state that the ‘acclaimed’ NNPC’s stock of 1.2 billion litres, equivalent to about 300 imported vessels is probably a figment of someone’s crude imagination….In fact, NNPC has been challenged to disclose where the stock of 1.2 billion litres is stored…”
LAGOS STATE GOVT SANCTIONS 25 ERRING LASTMA OFFICIALS. NEW OPERATIONAL VEHICLES COMING FOR LASTMA SOON: “…Pedro said government would no longer tolerate unruly behaviour, indiscipline, corrupt practices and disobedience to lawful orders by the traffic officers, charging them to henceforth desist from practices that could damage the reputation of the government…According to him, the era of indiscipline and impunity in the agency is over. He warned that henceforth, any officer found wanting will not go unpunished…”
DIESEL PRICE IN NIGERIA: DEFYING THE FORCE OF GRAVITY – PART ONE: “…Nigerians are now in fact paying more money than Americans and Britons in real terms for diesel, a bye-product of the crude oil for which Nigeria is Africa’s leading producer and the 6th largest in the world. Currently, the daily average consumption of diesel or Automotive Gas oil as it is technical called is put at between 12,000,000 -15,000,000 Liters…”
DIESEL PRICE IN NIGERIA: DEFYING THE FORCE OF GRAVITY – PART TWO: “…Deregulation will be meaningless if some dominant players sitting over champagne glasses can agree a minimum price with no correlation to global or even local market realities and trends. The prospects of innovation, customer appeal and expanded options that are the drivers of the deregulation advocacy have become stillborn, with the resultant effect that Nigerians are left the worse for wear. The operators also lose in the present dispensation with the market becoming an open sesame for all comers bereft of skills, expertise and uniqueness…”
COUNTING THE EXTREME COSTS OF APAPA GRIDLOCK: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GETS A 30-DAY ULTIMATUM: “…We want Buhari, as soon as he’s sworn-in, to work with the Navy, the Lagos State government, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and other relevant stakeholders to establish a formidable task force to address the issue. Nigerians don’t like dialogue. At times it is when you use the horsewhip that people fall in line. This problem started in the Obasanjo administration where approvals were recklessly made for the building of tank farms around the seaport…”