The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has vowed to suspend operations on Monday. Its National President, Yusuf Lawal Othman, made this known in a press statement he issued from Abuja. He noted that the statement is an official announcement from the association’s headquarters that the members are parking their trucks from Monday. He stressed: “Why? Because what we spend on operation is more than what we get in total: both in local and bridging”.
According to him, the members have been operating at a loss and it is no longer sustainable for them to endure the losses. NARTO’s National President said, “We will have to suspend operations latest from now till on Monday. “We cannot continue to operate at a loss. Most people have parked. A lot more are going to the park. “But from the point of the association itself, we are going to suspend operations on Monday.”
The President disclosed that NARTO’s efforts at soliciting the intervention of all the key stakeholders in the Federal Government and industry have not yielded positive results. Othman revealed that the association has written letters to table the plight of unbearable cost of operation to the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu; Minister of Petroleum Resources; Director General, Department of State Services (DSS); Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) Chief Executive Officer; Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Group Chief Executive Officer; and the Marketers.
“We have written letters up to the level of the Chief of Staff. We have written to the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil) I will send you a copy,” he added.
