Tanker drivers' strike paralyses activities at NNPC depot

Activities at the Nigeria National Pe-troleum Corporation (NNPC), Apata depot, were, on Wednesday, paralysed due to the strike embarked upon by Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).This was sequel to the directives by the national headquarters of NUPENG to the PTD to stop loading petroleum products across the country until the Federal Government is ready to accept their request over the picketing of Shell Petroleum.Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in a telephone conversation, the Deputy National Chairman of PTD, Chief Salimon Akanni Oladiti, said 'the strike is a national issue and is beyond any unit of NUPENG to decide to call off the strike. It is only the national headquarters of NUPENG that can give a counter directive to call off the strike. According to him, 'although we are at a meeting with the Federal Government to decide the next line of action, no one is sure of its outcome. But if the parties concerned reach an agreement, the strike may be called off.'In his reaction to the strike, the chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chief Joseph Akanni, stated that both the NNPC and IPMAN lost billions of naira to the strike because they could not sell or purchase fuel for their filling stations.Akanni, therefore, urged the government and the authorities concerned to find a lasting solution to the crisis so that the PTD would commence loading of petroleum products .It will be recalled that the national body of NUPENG had been having a running battle with Shell Nigeria and its management due to alleged intimidation of its members working with the company, following the suspension of the chairman of one of its chapters.
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