4th July, 2011
The Lagos State Chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), says it is set to give its members the needed education to enable them do their job better.
Mr. Akin James, Secretary of the chapter, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
To achieve the objective, he said the union recently sent some of its top officials to the UK on training in Transport and Logistics Management.
James, who was one of the beneficiaries, said they studied “scheduling of commercial vehicles, maintenance, replacing of fleet, guaranteeing safety of passengers and road and operational safetyâ€.
He said that they would use visuals to impart what they learnt to their colleagues.
James said the manner in which the transport business was being run in Nigeria was not good as it was dominated by illiterates.
“Most members of the union are illiterate; the profession accommodates different kind of people, unlike other professions such as nursing, teaching, law and medicine.
“Can you practice nursing without being a certified nurse? People will call you a quack; a nurse who is a quack will be arrested and prosecuted,†James said.
He said he benefited a lot from the training in the UK, adding that it would enable them to do their jobs better.
James appealed to the government to introduce a system that would, in the next 10 years, ensure that all drivers were literate.
He noted that drivers of the Lagos State government Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) had been given orientation on how to obey traffic laws and be polite when dealing with passengers.