Fuel Queues Emerge As NUPENG Issues 14-day Strike Notice

Queues resurfaced at filling stations in Abuja with several others shutdown due to unavailability of premium motor spirit (PMS) also known as petrol.

Checks around the city center and adjourning suburbs showed that while most stations owned by major marketers were opened with long queues, most stations operated by independent marketers were closed.

This is as the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, (NUPENG), Monday issued a 14-day nationwide strike notice, accusing Chevron Nigeria Limited, CNL, Nigeria Agip Oil Company, NAOC, National Petroleum Development Company , NPDC, among others, of unfair Labour practices including indiscriminate sack of members without payment of their benefits.

The emergence of queues came about three days after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had assured the public that it had enough petrol in stock and urged consumers against engaging in panic buying.

Signs of possible petrol shortage emerged about two weeks ago when members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) raised the alarm that private depot owners had increased the price of the product by N9 per litre.

To douse anxiety amongst consumers NNPC disclosed that it had over 1.7 billion litres of petrol in stock and more petrol “is expected to arrive into the country daily over the coming weeks and months”.

Meanwhile, NUPENG lamented that some of the issues had been pending since 2012 despite interventions by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Labour and Employment in the Union’s favour.

The President and general secretary of NUPENG , Prince Williams Akporeha and Olawale Afolabi, in a statement, threatened to shut fuel distributions across the country among other measures, if it’s grievances were not addressed, insisting that the pending issues do require any further meeting or negotiation.

“We write to convey to the general public and all relevant government agencies the resolution of the Special National Delegates Conference, SNDC, to issue a 14 day notice of a nationwide industrial action if some legitimate welfare and membership related issues that have been variously resolved in our favour even by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment are not adequately and conclusively addressed and resolved within the next fourteen days. This Ultimatum takes effect from Monday 15th, November, 2021.”