The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), Lagos State branch, Friday directed tanker drivers to stop lifting fuel over an alleged assault on their members by some officers of the Nigerian Navy.
Lagos Zonal Chairman of NUPENG, Comrade Najeemdeen Tokunbo Korodo, dropped the hint this in Lagos while briefing the press on the illegal extortion of money from members in Apapa by Naval officers.
According to him, the illegal extortion of money has been on-going, adding that the union can no longer tolerate such situations.
“The illegal extortion of money from our members and the beating up of those that did not have money to give men of the Nigeria Navy at the Apapa depots made the leadership of the union to order the withdrawal of services till the safety of our members is guaranteed by the Federal Government.
“Our major concern is about the welfare of our members. We want the government to know that the welfare of the workers in the country must be put into consideration, hence we withdrew our services”, he said.
Speaking further, Korodo said the artificial fuel scarcity been created by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the last few weeks has made it difficult by tanker drivers to lift fuel on normal basis, adding that in the process of waiting for days, the naval officers use the opportunity to extort money from members
“It is sad that NNPC has in the last few weeks decided to hoard fuel and release it to marketers in piece meal and making our members to sleep at the depots for days without fuel.
The Federal Government and the Nigeria Navy must apologise to NUPENG before we can call on our members to resume work”, he added.
Arguing that only 21 tankers could lift fuel from Mosimi depot in the last 72 hours out of over 500 marketers, the labour leader called on Nigerians to hold the NNPC responsible for the ongoing scarcity in the country.
“NUPENG’s leadership tours of depots in the country revealed that the fuel scarcity is because the NNPC now ration fuel out to independent marketers”, he added.
On the recent vandalisation of pipelines which the NNPC management said contributed mainly to the fuel scarcity, the labour leader maintained that it was not true, adding that the scarcity had started long before the vandalisation.