NUPENG Strike: Illegal Fuel Dealers Make Brisk Biz

Illegal petrol sellers through black market made a brisk business over the weekend, following a two-day strike embarked upon by tanker drivers in Rivers State under the aegis of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) workers, last Friday.

Long queues of vehicles re-appeared on Saturday and Sunday at the few filling stations that ventured to sell petrol (PMS).

Though the filling stations sold at the official price N97, they were more interested in selling to customers in jerry cans at high prices.

As at yesterday, most filling stations were closed while long queues of vehicles were seen at few stations that ventured to sell.

Most drivers and motorists resorted to black market where a 10 litres of petrol was sold for between N2,500 and N2,800.

At the NNPC mega filling station in old Port Harcourt township, many vehicles were seen waiting to get the product that never came as there was no sale.

The supervisor of the filling station, Mr Jude Azi told The Tide that the strike was as a result of a face-off between the tanker drivers and the police.

According to Mr Azi, “there has been no supply since the past two days and since there is no supply, definitely we do not have products to sell,” pointing out that they sold off their last stock on Saturday.

He however, assured that the product would be available today since the problem between the tanker drivers and the police had been resolved.

Two bus drivers, J. P. Okwu and Sunny Okoro in separate interviews lamented the high cost of petrol being sold by road side dealers. “We use to buy ten litres at N1,000 but today we are buying it at N2500 and N2,800”, they said.

Shedie Okpara