Ademola Adegoroye, minister of state for transportation, has advised the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) on the need to train commercial drivers.
According to a statement on Saturday by Ebenezer Adeniyan, special assistant on media and publicity to the minister, Adegoroye said this when the members of the union, led by Tajudeen Baruwa, NURTW president, visited him in Abuja.
The minister, who spoke on the proposal by the federal government to introduce a mass transit scheme across states, said there is a need for the union to train its members on the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse.
“I commend your leadership but I think there is the need for commercial driving to be professional,” he said.
“Commercial driving should not be an all-comers affair. Someone should not just learn driving and then put a vehicle on the road and start commercial transportation.
“There should be special training for commercial drivers and there should be stringent conditions to be met by someone before becoming a commercial driver.
“You also need to curb individual recklessness by training your members against drunk-driving and drug abuse.
“Alcohol should not be sold in motor parks and any driver who needs to take medications to relax should do so when he is not going to drive. We need to stop putting the lives of our people in danger.”
Earlier in the week, Adegoroye had received a report from the committee set up to develop a national strategy on the adoption of compressed natural gas for mass transit scheme in cities.
The NURTW president commended the ministry on the proposal, adding that the scheme will improve the transport sector and the union would partner with the federal government to ensure the actualisation of the scheme.
Baruwa, however, urged the minister to get the transport union involved in the process, as the drivers would be able to guide the government on the implementation of the scheme, especially on the choice of vehicles suitable for Nigerian roads.
