Petroleum Tanker Drivers Affirm Ote as Substantive Chair

*Caution members against night driving

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Petroleum Tanker Drivers branch of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (PTD-NUPENG) at the weekend affirmed Mathias Ote as the substantive national chairman of the body.

The decision was taken at the quarterly national executive council meeting of the PTD- NUPENG held in Warri, Delta state at the weekend, a statement by the organisation noted. Ote succeeds the immediate past national chairman of the union, Augustine Egbon, who died last year.

In his inaugural remarks as national chairman, Ote paid tribute to his predecessor whom he described as a great and exceptional leader, stressing that the development of the union and sustainable welfare of its members remained his priority until his passing.

“It is indeed very painful to lose such a great and exemplary leader who has impacted positively in the life of his people and kept an indelible mark in the history of the union,” Ote stressed, thanking the leadership of NUPENG and the National Executive Council (NEC) of PTD branch for entrusting him with the position.

“I appreciate all our members and leaders for finding me worthy to be given the privilege to lead our branch for the next four years. You can agree with me that there are so many other capable and competent hands that can lead this great branch, but in your collective wise decision and by the grace of Almighty God, I was elected as the branch chairman.

“Silver or gold I have none to offer in appreciation of your love, support, prayers and encouragement towards the success of my election but what I have which is good leadership, I will spare nothing in providing it, ” he added.

The new chairman who appealled to tanker drivers to ensure safety on the road further cautioned against night driving, highlighting issues like hijacking of trucks, kidnapping for ransom as well as killing for rituals as some of the dangers.

He said: “The risk of travelling at night is increasing. A lot of evil activities mostly happens at night, such as hijacking of trucks, kidnapping for ransom, killing for rituals and ghastly accidents leading to destruction of lives and properties of our great people due to the deteriorated condition of some of our roads.

” In view of the above, I urge all our members to desist from night driving because if anything happens, you will bear the consequences.”

In his remarks, National Trustee of NUPENG, Akanni Oladiti, spoke in a similar vein, urging tanker drivers to avoid unnecessary risks that could jeopardise their lives.

” I want to plead with us to heed the advice of our national chairman. Life has no duplicate. When you have accidents on the road, the owner of your truck won’t be happy with you and tag you as a threat to his business and survival. So, let us avoid night driving and keep to the safeguards to secure our individual lives,” he stated.