The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has suspended its strike formerly scheduled to take place across the nation, News About Nigeria reports.
This was disclosed after a meeting with the Federal Government and stakeholders after tanker drivers suspended operations and stopped lifting petroleum products amid harsh economic realities, on Monday.
Members of the Transport Association had earlier threatened to shut down operations in the country on Monday over the high cost of automotive gas oil, also known as diesel, which is used to fuel their trucks for the movement of petroleum products across Nigeria.
The Federal Government had also ordered oil marketers to negotiate with NARTO to avert the planned suspension of operations by members of the association.
It was gathered that oil marketers and the executives of NARTO met about six times in the last week, following the declaration of the petroleum products’ transporters to halt operations.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, NARTO’s President, Yusuf Othman, said it was an official announcement from the association’s headquarters that members of the group would park their trucks on Monday.
“Why? It is because what we spend on operations is more than what we get in total, both in local and bridging,” he stated.
Like Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, which now sells at over N600 per litre, the price of diesel has skyrocketed of late, no thanks to the forex crisis in the country. At the moment, diesel sells above N1,250 per litre in Nigeria.
