Fuel Scarcity Looms As NUPENG Shuts NIPCO’s Depot

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State,Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, at the National Economic Council Meeting in Abuja, last Thursday. Photo: NAN

The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has shut the operations of Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO).
The Tide source which 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 told reporters on condition of anonymity, that this was done on the orders of NUPENG.
He said the issues surrounding the shutdown followed the leadership tussle within the top echelon of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).
According to the source, the situation, which is the fallout of union politics, may lead to another round of fuel scarcity.
“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 that the company was losing an average of N600 – as they load about 200 trucks daily at the cost of about N3m each.
“We also run an average of over N1m on operational expenses daily.
“NIPCO serves as the Federal Government’s strategic depot for fuel storage and distribution across the country,” he said.
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.
The source also said that effort 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.