The Niger State Government on Saturday reviewed its earlier ban on heavy duty trucks across the state due to its devastating effects on durability of roads in the state.
This followed a meeting in Abuja on, Friday and chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari with the Inspector General of Police, the Director General of the Department of State Services, the Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Minister of Works among others in attendance.
Petroleum Tanker Drivers had vowed not to lift petrol to anywhere in the north in the wake of the ban.
Briefing the press on the outcome of the meeting on Saturday in Abuja, Governor Abubakar Sani Bello said the decision to review the ban was to cushion the hardship such will cause Nigerlites, the North and Nigeria in general.
According to him, under the new arrangement, “No articulated vehicle carrying petroleum products of more than 45,000 litres or 35 tons of dry cargo will be allowed into the State.”
Governor Bello said that the meeting emphasized the need for special intervention for remedial works to be executed by the Federal Government on Bida-Lapai-Lambata road and Mokwa-Tegina-Brinin Gwari roads to serve as alternative route for articulated vehicles.
He stressed the need for the Federal Government to support the state to carry out remedial work on Farin Doki-Minna-Bida road to enhance movement.
The governor explained that directive has been given the relevant agencies in the state to henceforth open the roads to ease movement of goods and services ameliorate the hardship motorists are currently facing.
He described the decision of his government to ease the ban as the necessary sacrifice made in the interest of the North and Nigeria in general.
