Hamisu Muhammad
14 July 2008
Abuja — Most petrol filling stations in the country were dry at the weekend as a result of the warning strike embarked upon last Thursday by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD).
The unions, after a meeting with the Minister of the Energy (Petroleum) last Saturday, said they will decide on the fate of the strike today (Monday) after due consultations with their members.
The strike left most filling stations empty while those with the products had very long queues of motorists struggling to buy fuel. In many filling stations, chaos reigned at the weekend.
In Kano and Kaduna a litre of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as petrol sold for between N150 to N200.
Daily Trust witnessed long queues along the few filling stations that sell the products in Kano and Kaduna while in some parts, the products were only available at the black market, at exorbitant costs. In Abuja, most of the filling stations were barricaded with signs indicating non-availability of fuel.
Most of the motorists expressed worries over the situation. The strike by the two unions is in protest at the soaring diesel price in the country which is used by the tanker drivers to fuel their own vehicles. NUPENG embarked on an indefinite strike on Thursday demanding that the Federal Government should tackle the problem of middlemen in oil business in the country and rehabilitate the roads in the country.
"Artificial scarcity and continuous inflation witnessed by Nigerians is as a result of middlemen. The government should stop selling papers to non-oil dealers. For instance, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) gives out diesel for N60.15K to a middleman who sells the papers to a marketer, and before it gets to filling stations, it has increased to between N150 and N200 depending on which state the product is going", the union's President, Mr. Peter Akpatason, was quoted as saying recently in Lagos.
Daily Trust reports that long fuel queues returned to Kano at the weekend, with a litre of petroleum sold at N150 on the black market. But indications emerged that the strike would be shelved today as an inside source disclosed that the tanker drivers have reached truce at the weekend in Abuja , saying normalcy may return within the week.
Our correspondent gathered that most petrol stations in the state don't have the product and motorists resort to buying it at exorbitant rates at the black market. A litre of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) that was sold at the black market early last week at N100 has now moved to N150 and according to the black marketers, there are tendencies that the price will rise even higher this week. A commercial motorcyclist, Amadu Takuri, says unavailability of the product and its rising cost led to adjustment in their price, stating that they have made an increase of 20 percent.
Daily Trust's findings show that the scarcity began last week when Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) embarked on strike in protest at non implementation of life insurance and wage increase, poor roads and lack of the diesel, among others.
According to the chairman of Kano State Chapter of Petroleum Tanker Drivers, Alhaji Salisu, their salary cannot buy them even a bag of rice. He added that they embarked on the strike to compel their employers to increase their benefits. He also said that due to poor road network in the country, many of their members have died in accidents. "It is obvious that many mortal accidents involving our members are occasioned by the menace of poor road. So we down tools in order to make government repair the roads," he stated.
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