Warri Refinery was on Wednesday directed by the Federal Government to increase the supply of diesel by six truckloads per depot, as part of initiatives to stave off a national strike by oil workers.
The government gave the directive after it met with officials of the Petroleum Tankers Drivers (PTD)of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG)on their planned strike over rise in the prices of diesel and kerosene.
The national industrial action is scheduled to begin today.
On top of that, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN)also plans to cut production over the sack of workers by Chevron.
Chevron Branch Secretary, Jonathan Omare, said “with the expiration this morning of a seven-day ultimatum issued to the management of Chevron, we are going to down tools. Expectedly, about 450,000 barrels of crude oil per day may be threatened, while the multi-billion Naira Agbari project expected to start delivery of 250,000 barrels per day by June 15, 2008 may also be threatened.”
Daily Independent exclusively reported the proposed showdown on Wednesday, and an official of the PTD who was at the meeting confirmed that the “story actually spurred the government into action.”
The government instructed all marketers of diesel to sell it at the official rate of N90 per litre.
Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN)Chairman in Mosimi depot, Adebisi Bada, confirmed that “we have received instruction that there are six additional truckload of diesel for our depot.”
Regardless, a battery of prominent rights activists have expressed support for the strike threatened by the NUPENG and IPMAN.
Two of them, Festus Keyamo, Ibitoye Ebimoore, along with Afenifere, roused the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and the Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO)to the reality that the government has introduced fuel price hike through the back door.
Diesel now sells for N145 per litre in the South, and N270 in the North.
The depot price of kerosene per litre is N57, but it is retailed for about N500 per litre.
The supply of petrol has been cut from 300,000 litres to 15,000 litres, according to statistics released by the Independent Marketer Branch (IMB)of the NUPENG.
An official of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR)blamed the hike in the prices of diesel and kerosene on market forces “resulting from the withdrawal of subsidy on the two products due to their deregulation,” but Afenifere queried why the excess money made is shared by the three tiers of government instead of being used as subsidy.
Afenifere National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, described it as “a heartless venture,” stressing that the majority of Nigerians “who have been forced to the use of alternative power generating sets by the government’s insensitivity through the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN)are now faced with the dilemma of buying diesel at the rate of N145 per litre or more.”
He urged labour unions to “end their honeymoon with the government and challenge it on this act before the hike is transferred to the price of petrol. They would enjoy our ready 100 percent support.”
Keyamo dismissed the government’s argument as “scandalous and unjustifiable,” and agreed “totally with the position of NUPENG and IPMAN. It is an indirect way of raising the whole price of the products. Nigerians cannot be put to another round of anguish and the labour unions and all Nigerians must wake up to challenge it.”
Ebimoore said the status of Nigeria as an oil producer should be felt among its citizens. “If the people in government cannot use the excess crude earnings to better the life of citizens,” he argued, “they should not turn themselves into hawks with the money.”
According to him, all that Nigerians know about the excess crude earnings is the fight between Federal and State Governments over the sharing formula, whereas “part of the money should be used to subsidise the price of fuel.”