National Union of Road Transport Workers to introduce vehicle tracking to help combat crime

NIGERIA'S National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has decided to join in the fight against the growing crime epidemic in the country by launching an electronic tracking system that will enable it to locate vehicles on expressways.

Over recent years, Nigeria has become one of the world's crime hotspots with kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, banditry, armed robbery and terrorism all on the rise. Totally overwhelmed by the crisis, the security forces have no solution to the problem as the country is awash with arms with about 6m illegal firearms currently in Nigeria.

To help curb the spate of kidnapping and insecurity on expressways, the NURTW said it has now become imperative to use electronic tracking devices. Following a recent meeting of its national executive council at Ikirin in Oyo State, the NURTW president, Alhaji Tajudeen Baruwa, said many of its members had been killed by criminals on motorways, so it has decided to take action.

Alhaji Baruwa said: “We have resolved to use tracking to monitor our members’ vehicles to help us to alert our members of impending danger. We admonish our members to be security conscious as the issue of insecurity in the country is worrisome.

"Our members are being kidnapped across the country and we have lost many members as a result of insecurity with no compensation from the government. So we really need to be careful and vigilant when we are on the steering and e-tracking will help passengers and our members after we put it to use."

He added that his administration was faced with serious financial challenges as the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic affected their revenue. Alhaji Baruwa said that it was a miracle to survive the devastating effect of the lockdown and called on his members to diversify their portfolio's.