News
Imminent Nationwide Strike Of NUPENG May Exacerbate Fuel Scarcity
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The fuel scarcity across Nigeria may worsen as NUPENG threatened a nationwide strike.
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The union accused security agents of destroying its tankers.
Eko Hot Blog reports that the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), a branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike.
EDITOR’S PICKS
There are fears that a strike by the union may worsen the scarcity of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, that some Nigerians are currently experiencing in some parts of the country.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, the PTD chairman, Lucky Osesua alleged that security agents destroyed products they had lifted from refineries.
Osesua claimed that the military on Tuesday night destroyed two trucks conveying high pour fuel oil (HPFO) popularly known as black oil.
He said the trucks had lifted the black oil from a modular refinery — Walter Smith Refinery and Petrochemical Ibigwe — in Imo state.
Some of the burnt trucks
The PTD chairman, who showed reporters receipts and pictures of the burnt trucks, said the trucks were intercepted in Rivers, where they were burnt.
“The trucks laden with 40,000 litres of black oil were on their way to Bob & Sea Depot Koko Delta state,” Osesua said.
“The drivers presented way bills, NUPENG receipts, and quality control documents but the military men still insisted that they carried crude oil. They drove the two trucks away and burnt them between Ahoada and Elele in Rivers state, on Tuesday night.
“Without investigation, without reaching out to the refinery where the drivers mentioned that they lifted the black oil, the soldiers burnt down the trucks in less than five hours.
“Enough is enough about the high-handedness of our security agents.
“They should stop demonising our union and persecuting our men who are doing their normal businesses. We expect that in this modern world, trained security agents should be able to identify black oil as against crude oil.
“We should not be at the receiving end of their ignorance.”
He lamented that such situations have adversely affected their ability to supply products across the country.
FURTHER READING
This is not the first time PTD and NUPENG would accuse security agents of frustrating their services. In September, 2022, both unions withdrew their services over harassment by security operatives, causing fuel scarcity in Rivers.
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