The Nasarawa State chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, has said that it would not buy the speed limit devices which the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, had mandated all commercial vehicle drivers to install in their vehicles.
Salihu Adamu, Chairman of the NURTW in Nasarawa State told newsmen in Lafia on Thursday that none of his members will purchase the speed limit device because it was very expensive.
He said that all the appeals by the union for the FRSC to get distributors of the device to bring down the price had not yielded any result.
“We don’t have plans to buy the device for N45,000. We don’t have that money,” the State NURTW chairman said.
We told FRSC to go back and bargain that for commercial drivers we will agree to buy it for N5,000.”
He insisted that the amount for the device was beyond the means of commercial drivers in the state.
Adamu also said that the union had approached distributors of the speed limit devices in Benue and Nasarawa all to no avail.
The NURTW chairman assured that once the price of the device was pegged at N5,000, the union would buy all the devices and compel its members to install them.
He further said that the FRSC was not being fair by compelling only commercial drivers to install the device, adding that private drivers were responsible for many of the road accidents recorded across the country.
“We are asking them why are they not selling to the private drivers? Is it because they are people of means and our drivers are not?
“Let them sell it to the general public. Afterall, some of the accidents that occur is because of the recklessness of private drivers,” Adamu said.
The Nasarawa State Sector Commander of FRSC, Faustina Alegbe, however advised the union to form groups and negotiate with the distributors in order to get the device at cheaper rate.
“They have the power to bargain with any accredited vendor. If they go as a group, I believe that the vendors will consider their number and deal with them,” Alegbe said.
She also called on drivers to exercise more caution especially as the yuletide season draws nearer.