Ahead of planned nationwide strike by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) on Monday in protest of the recent hike in the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, from N65 to N75 per litre and the sale of Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries, oil marketers under the aegis of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigerian (IPMAN) and the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) have today begun an indefinite strike on the same reasons.
The current strike is coming on the heels of the one embarked upon by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) in protest of a Federal Government directive barring their tanker drivers from parking along the roads, which was called off last week.
The IPMAN and NARTO strike, industry analysts say, would cripple economic activities across the country, as their members are the major chain of petroleum products distribution.
At a crowded press briefing yesterday in Lagos, IPMAN and NARTO said they decided to embark on the strike, as labour cannot totally represent their interest even when their members constitute the bulk of the labour union in the country.
Besides, the oil marketers, who spoke through the Western Zone Chairman of IPMAN, Chief Tunji Aderoju and NARTO Executive Secretary, E. B. Kanawa, said they have over N250 billion investments in the oil industry and as such should be accorded some level of recognition by the government in the scheme of things in the industry.
The independent marketers revealed that they have a bulk purchase with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), saying by that they should have been there when the sale of the refineries were sealed as it would affect their business.
They berated the government, saying it is operating a system where nobody is regulating anything, expressing dissatisfaction in the deregulation of the downstream oil sector.
They disclosed that after their National Executive Meeting (NEC)/Central Working Committee (CWC) on June 7, this year, they wrote the government on pressing needs they wanted addressed, but the government paid them a deaf ear.
Consequently, they said: “The national body of IPMAN has directed all its members nationwide to abide by the directives of the IPMAN NEC/CWC to withdraw their marketing services with effect from Friday, June 15th, 2007.”
The marketers, therefore, directed their western zonal executive council to ask all its depot executive council and members in the South-West to ensure the full compliance of the strike until their demands are met by the Federal Government and the regulatory bodies.
Jun152007