The recent ban on sale of petrol in jerry-cans by the Rivers State government has continued to generate reactions as Marine workers and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) at the weekend opposed the action.
The state government earlier said the decision to prohibit sale of petrol in jerry cans would assist in checking the activities of black marketers, but the Marine Workers Association and boat operators in the state have rejected the ban, saying it would affect their operation.
Leader of the Maritime workers and boat operator in the state, Francis Bodo told newsmen at the weekend that, “We, the Marine people have no other way of buying fuel other than through the use of jerri-cans. We cannot carry our big and small boats on our heads to the filling station.”
Also, ACN in in a statement signed by its state Publicity Secretary, Jerry Needam, said the ban is unwarranted and that it amounts to an infringement on the right of generator users, who use jerry-cans to purchase petrol to fuel their generators.
The party, while wondering how people would power their homes without using jerry-cans to purchase fuel, recalled that in the wake of the labour strike occasioned by the increase in price of fuel, Amaechi promised some palliatives to cushion the suffering of the masses, but that up till now, no palliative has been put in place.
The ACN also wondered why Governor Chibuike Amaechi was quick to ban the use of jerry-cans at filling stations when his promise of providing electricity has remained unfulfilled.
The state’s Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Seminatari, while addressing journalists in Port Harcourt, said that the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources had been mandated to close down any filling station that fails to comply with the order.
The Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Okey Amadi on his part, said his ministry has already taken proactive steps to ensure that defaulting marketers are apprehended.