Long queues of vehicles resurfaced on Monday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, as oil workers began a seven-day strike to press for the reinstatement of seven of their members laid off by a Port Harcourt-based oil servicing firm.
The strike which was called by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, forced oil workers off their duty posts.
It also prevented tanker drivers from loading and lifting petroleum products from the Port Harcourt Refining Company.
Motorists, who got wind of the strike on Monday morning, rushed to filling-stations with products to fill their tanks, leading to the emergence of long queues of motorists in those stations.
Although the stations did not hike the prices of petroleum products as a result of the increased demand, fuel hawkers took advantage of the development to create a �parallel market� near the stations.
While the major marketers sold at the approved rate of N65 per litre, the hawkers dispensed a litre of petrol at as much as N150.
The Chairman of the Port Harcourt zone of PENGASSAN, Mr. Alexander Akalazu, told our correspondent that the association would not call off the strike until the issues which prompted it were resolved.
Akalazu however said that PENGASSAN officials and those of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers of Nigeria would meet on Wednesday to review the strike.
Akalazu said, �It is only after the Wednesday meeting that we will be able to say if the strike could be called off or not.�
Seven workers of the Trans-Amadi-based Franks International Limited, who were executive members of NUPENG and PENGASSAN in the company, were swept off the firm early this year for their involvement in trade union activities.
However, when their dismissal was reported to the leadership of the union in Port Harcourt and the Federal Ministry of Labour in Abuja, the management of the company was advised to recall them in the interest of industrial peace.
The firm has insisted that the staff remain sacked despite two meetings with officials of the labour ministry and those of the unions in Lagos and Abuja.
Irked by the action of the company, PENGASSAN issued a 14-day ultimatum to the company � which expired on Sunday � to recall the staff or face a showdown.