Petrol Scarcity May Worsen As NUPENG Shuts NIPCO’s Loading Operations
The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, has shut the operations of Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company, NIPCO.
A News Agency of Nigeria correspondent, who visited NIPCO operational headquarters at Apapa, Lagos, on Friday, reports that more than 100 trucks were on queue at the loading bay.
A top management staff of NIPCO said on condition of anonymity, that this was done on the orders of NUPENG. He said that the issues surrounding the shut in followed the leadership tussle within the top echelon of the Nigeria Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN.
According to the source, the situation, which is the fallout of union politics, may worsen the current petrol scarcity being witnessed across Nigeria. “We don’t have any industrial crisis that could have warranted the shutdown of operations. “I urge the Federal Government to intervene in the matter before its gets out of hand,” the source said.
The top management source said the company was losing an average of N600 million daily, as they load about 200 trucks daily at the cost of about N3 million each. “We also run an average of over N1 million on operational expenses daily,” he said.
He said “NIPCO serves as the Federal Government’s strategic depot for fuel storage and distribution across the country.”
The source also said that the situation had demoralised and embarrassed the members of staff and management of NIPCO. Some of the tanker drivers caught up in the crisis lamented their long stay in Lagos, stressing that majority of them came from the Northern states to load petrol.
They appealed to the relevant authorities to intervene and restore normalcy before it would get out of hand. Efforts by the News Agency of Nigeria to interview NUPENG national President proved abortive, while the Secretary refused to pick his calls and did not reply the text messages sent to his phones.
Source: Legit.ng
