Security was on Saturday tightened around strategic oil installations in the Niger Delta region ahead of the strike action planned by the Nigerian Labour Congress and the oil workers� unions.
The workers are pressing for the reversal of some decisions taken by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the twilight of his administration.
Specifically, the NLC, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, are demanding the reversal of the pump prices of petroleum products, the new Value Added Tax, and the sale of Port-Harcourt and Kaduna refineries. The strike begins on Wednesday.
Our correspondent learnt that the Joint Task Force in the Niger-Delta (Operation Restore Hope), had initiated measures to ensure the safety of oil workers and installations while the strike lasted.
Also, the JTF was being repositioned to enhance its efficiency.
Findings by our correspondent revealed that the action of the JTF, headed by Brig.-Gen. Lawrence Ngubane, was informed by the failure of the meeting held on Friday between the representatives of the Federal Government and labour to resolve the issue.
A source at 93 Battalion, Effurun, Headquarters of the JTF, told Sunday Punch that the Federal Government subsequently directed Ngubane to provide a security web around major oil facilities to prevent wilful damage by hoodlums.
Sunday Punch gathered that the security measures were borne out of fear by the government that the action of the labour unions could be hijacked by the Niger Delta militants to perpetrate fresh criminal activities in the oil industry in the region.
Consequently, the authorities of the JTF deployed fresh troops and equipment in the major facilities belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and oil majors, especially the Shell Petroleum Development Company and Chevron Nigeria Limited in the region in the early hours of Saturday.
Our source said enough personnel and military equipment, especially naval patrol boats and crafts provided by the NNS Delta, Warri Naval Base, headed by Navy Capt. Mufutau Ajibade, had been stationed at SPDC�s Forcados Terminal and CNL�s Escravos Terminal and Tank Farm to ward- off untoward activities.
�We have told our men in various places to be on the alert. We have also deployed adequate troops and materials to handle any exigency. It is the duty of JTF to ensure safety of lives and property in the Niger Delta and we are not ready to compromise on that mandate,� said a source, who craved anonymity.
It was learnt that the Navy task group of the JTF, headed by Ajibade, had deployed warships, NNS Nwanba and NNS Obula, to embark on a regular patrol of the waterways, apparently to keep the militants at bay during the period.
In another development, the JTF was being repositioned to make it result-oriented. To this end, Ngubane has initiated mass transfer and rotation of the officers and men of the command.
Mean while. as workers gear up for a nationwide strike over new fuel price regime, economic activities were at their lowest ebb in some cities as filling stations had run short of fuel supply.
There, were indications that the strike could begin at midnight on Wednesday following the seeming collapse of the talks held between representatives of the organised labour and the Federal Government on Friday.
The workers, under the aegis of the trade Union Congress and the Nigerian Labour Congress are also protesting the 100 per cent increase in Value Added Tax.
Representatives of labour and government agencies on the current dispute over the fuel price hike failed to reach a consensus on the matter at a meeting held in Abuja.
The meeting was at the instance of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe.
Reports from our correspondents on Saturday showed that the few filling stations that were still selling the commodity witnessed multiple queues of vehicles.
The situation was most chaotic in Lagos as people stepped up panic-buying of fuel and food items ahead of the strike.
In Lagos, the country�s commercial capital, bug queues of cars waiting to buy fuel formed at major fillinf stations, while several others were not selling.
Already, touts are taking advantage of the scarcity to sell in jerry cans at astronomical prices across the metropolis.
Many filling stations in Lagos did not have fuel on Saturday because of the strike by oil workers.
Socio-economic activities have slowed down in Enugu State.
Most of the petrol stations in the metropolis, in compliance with the decision of the unions oil workers refused to dispense diesel and Premium Motor Spirit otherwise known as petrol to motorists, preferring to sell to black marketers.
As at Saturday, a four-litre gallon of fuel was being sold at N2,500 by the black marketers operators.
A bus trip from the town to suburban areas like Abakpa, which hitherto cost N30 is now N150, while a short trip on Okada goes for between N100 to N150.
To prevent the filling stations from resuming services and breaching the strike, the oil unions� officials took to visiting the stations to enforce compliance.
Sunday Punch learnt that the action was informed by the report that some officers and men, who have stayed for a long time in a particular location in the region were compromising the mandate of the security outfit.
It was learnt that all the unit commanders in the states of the region under the jurisdiction of the JTF would be affected in the exercise.
Sunday Punch learnt that Ngubane, who assumed the command of JTF in March, decided that the troops would only serve in a location for a period not exceeding six months.
Consequently, investigations by Sunday Punch revealed that Ngubane has ordered a mass transfer and rotation of officers and men of the command, who have functioned at their present locations for more than six months.
A reliable source in JTF said, �The commander has directed that the troops be moved around, that they cannot stay in a place for too long, that you stay in a place for six months and leave for another person.
�He (Commander) is of the opinion that you get too close to the people when you stay in a place for too long�, he added.
Already, Ngubane has reportedly directed the task group commanders of the Army, Navy, Airforce, Police and State Security Service to rotate the troops under their supervision.
Specifically, Ngubane ordered that the troops at 93 Battalion, Effurun, headquarters of the outfit, be deployed in the field locations to replace their colleagues that would be recalled to the base.
It was learnt that the troops in the various units would rotate during the exercise.
Ngubane confirmed the report in a telephone interview with our correspondent, adding, �We are repositioning the JTF to enhance service delivery.
�It is a routine and normal exercise to move our troops around. They can�t stay in a place for too long. Otherwise they get familiar with the people and it will tell on their efficiency,� he added.
Ngubane, however, said he was not ready to comment on the strike action, adding that the government was discussing with the workers unions with a view to amicably resolving the issues involved in the dispute.
But one of his aides, who craved anonymity, said adequately security measures had been initiated to ensure sanity in the region during the strike period.