By Felicia Yeboah-Akpoh
Jacob Allotey-Jacobs, a member of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), has called on commercial drivers to established an insurance company to generate additional income to boost their resources.
He said as practiced in other countries, drivers could form a company, pay their premium and invest the proceeds for other income generating ventures to improve their lot.
Mr Allotey-Jacobs, who is also the Central Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Party, said this at a forum organized by the NPA to educate drivers in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis on the safety measures involved in handling petroleum products.
The NPA has over a period expressed worry about fire outbreaks caused by petroleum products that has claimed lives, injured others and destroyed properties hence the campaign to create awareness about the product.
Mr Yaro Kasambata, the NPA Public Affairs Manager, urged drivers to be conversant with and comply with the regulations on petroleum products by turning off their engines and mobile phones while filling their tanks with fuel to avoid igniting fire.
While asking filling station attendants to insist that drivers abide by the regulations, drivers must equally ensure that the passengers do same.
The drivers on the other hand appealed to the authorities to discourage the practice of locating lorry stations and other commercial activities, which use electricity or naked fire, close to fuel filling stations.
They specifically mentioned the premises of the Goil Filling Station at Tanokrom in Takoradi that has been used as a lorry station by floating drivers saying it deprives the law abiding drivers who have stations of their loads.
The drivers made a further appeal to the Oil Marketing Companies (OIC) to make announcements of future fuel price increases for them to prepare to avoid the embarrassment of getting to the filling stations without enough money to top up the difference in price.
They expressed concern about the frequent fuel increases and called for the appropriate measures to streamline the situation. GNA
