The House of Representatives has asked the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and States Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) to apply stringent measures against unlicensed tanker and trailer drivers in the country.
The call followed the adoption of a motion by Rep. Ben Igbakpa (PDP-Delta) at Tuesday’s plenary in Abuja.
Ben Igbakpa while speaking on the motion, said that there was need to assess the vehicle licensing process in the country.
He said that FRSC, State VIOs and the States Boards of Internal Revenue (BIR) were agencies responsible for vehicle licensing.
According to him, driving articulated vehicles required special skills and knowledge of traffic laws and regulations, adding that many drivers of articulated vehicles were not qualified to operate them.
He said that many of them were not licensed and lacked the requisite skills to drive thus resulting in fatal accidents.
Minimum safety requirements, he explained demands that operators of the articulated vehicles conformed to road transport safety standardisation scheme and registration of companies.
He said that all tankers, tractors and trailers and any other form of an articulated vehicle including those conveying dangerous goods were required to comply with the guidelines on safe operations.
Lagos State University (LASU) and the Nigeria Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), he said have accredited curriculum that will be used for the training.
“And also certification of driving training team to train drivers of articulated vehicles is important,” he said.
According to him, most tanker drivers are young adults who can neither speak nor write in English, adding that when issued licenses, they endanger other road users, contrary to the FRSC registration.
He said that the registration process mandated tanker, tractor and trailer transport services and operators to register their transport companies with the FRSC.
Igbakpa said that the proliferation of uncertified driving schools issuing driving certificates to untrained drivers often resulted in producing inexperience drivers thereby causing accidents.
The House therefore urged FRSC to compel tanker/tractor–trailer transport services/operators to disclose the type of heavy–duty vehicles business operation they were engaged in and register with the FRSC.
It also urged FRSC to stipulate stringent administrative procedures for tankers/trailers operations in the country for first time articulated vehicles operators and applicants for FRSC registration.
