The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has said its Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) would begin a nationwide strike on Monday, December 11, over the deplorable state of the nation’s highways and other issues.
The South-West Zonal Chairman of NUPENG, Tayo Aboyeji, who disclosed this in an interview with NAN, said the union has lost many lives and properties due to bad roads. Aboyeji said that all tanker drivers from the union would withdraw their services nationwide.
“This is not the first time that we will signify our intention to go on strike but we have to call it off because it will generally affect majority of Nigerians but now our hands are tied. We are going on nationwide strike because of the deplorable and shameful state of our highways.
When a truck loads petrol in Lagos, the drivers spend five to six days to get to Abuja because of the shameful state of the roads. All calls by the executive of petroleum unions have fallen on the deaf ears of the government as the highways continue to deteriorate nationwide.
The list of the highway are endless and the tanker drivers have been going through harrowing situation while rendering selfless national service. The increase rate of fire incidences involving petroleum tankers with accompanying massive destruction of lives and properties of our members and general public is enough.
This is because of government failure to enforce installation of safety gadget on tanker. This will protect the inflammation contents of their trucks from spilling over in a situation of road accident.
We know that the present administration would not do anything until we start the nationwide strike” he said
Meanwhile, Marketers of Liquefied Petroleum Gas popularly known as cooking gas have warned that the price of cooking gas may increase to N10,000 by December 2021.
With the 12.5kg currently selling for between N7,500 and N8,000, marketers are worried that supply shortage may see the price escalate to N10,000 in a few months.
While speaking at a Pan-African forum, Platforms Africa on Saturday, October 9, LPG marketers said many Nigerians are back using firewood, sawdust, charcoal and other unrefined energy sources for cooking even though prices of those materials are also on the rise.
The Executive Secretary of the National Association of LPG Marketers, Mr Bassey Essien, urged the government to review the recently introduced import charges and Value Added Tax.
He said if the advice is not heeded “the price of cooking gas may as well reach N10,000 for a 12.5kg cylinder.”
However, he said marketers are discussing with government officials on how the situation could be addressed.
