Bad Roads: Tanker Drivers Give FG 90-Day Ultimatum …As NUPENG Strike Bites Harder In Rivers, Three Others

The Petroleum Tanker Drivers branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers yesterday issued a 90-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to fix the many bad roads that heavy duty tankers ply across Nigeria.
Specifically, the drivers stated that they had warned of an impending strike in parts of the South-East and South-South as a result of the deplorable state of the Port Harcourt-Eleme Junction road, Okigwe-Umuahia road and Jebba-Illorin road.
The Chairman, PTD, Mr. Salimon Olatidi, told journalists yesterday that members of the union had on the expiration of the ultimatum last month avoided these roads and refused to lift products on the affected axis.
He said the strike had entered its second week and the situation was becoming unbearable to residents in the areas.
Olatidi said his members had wanted to extend the strike to Lagos, Abuja and other regions in the north, if not for the intervention of the Department of State Security Services, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Chairman of Capital Oil Limited.
He said, “We want to inform Nigerians that after due consideration and wider consultation with stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, we have directed our members to resume work in these areas where we had earlier withdrawn our services.
“We don’t want to state the time duration that we are now giving the government to carry out urgent repairs on these roads as well as others, but if we wait for 60 to 90 days and nothing is done, by the time we strike nationwide people should not blame us.”
Olatidi said the union agreed to heed the call of the DSS and the Petroleum Resources Ministry, adding that it had given “government more time to attend to these roads.
“We, like every other Nigerian, are mindful of the hard times and we also fill the pain. So, we advice the Federal Government to send emissaries to verify the state of these roads and take palliative measures.
“The road from Jebba to Ilorin, a distance of about 100km usually takes a whole day for our members to cover. Port Harcourt-Eleme Junction, a distance of about 15km takes over five hours, and the same goes for Okigwe-Umuahia road, as well as a few others across the country.”
He warned that “failure by government to fulfill its promise by fixing the roads, we may not give any further notice of an industrial action.”
Meanwhile, as the industrial action embarked upon by oil and gas industry workers under the aegis of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ Unit, Eastern Zone, entered its eighth day yesterday, commuters, residents and business owners in Rivers and Abia states have expressed increasing frustration and hard times they are facing to get petroleum products.
The union commenced its strike Thursday last week in protest against the deplorable condition of the Port Harcourt-Eleme-Onne federal road that is the only access road to the refineries, Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) main loading bay, private petrol tank farms as well as the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone and Notore fertiliser plant in the state.
A makeover of the road was done by the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), last year when the wife of the president, Dame Patience Jonathan, buried her step mother in Okrika, her hometown, to allow easy passage for important dignitaries who attended the ceremony.
Tanker drivers blocked the refinery, depots and private tank farms in the state, making it impossible for dealers to buy from them.
The strike, however, has caused artificial scarcity and long queues in the few filling stations that have the products.
When The Tide visited the various petrol stations as early as 5:30 a.m. yesterday, it was discovered that a litre of DPK now goes for N140 while a litre of PMS goes for N120 as against the usual N97.
Some drivers who spoke to our correspondent on their frustrations lamented that the products are not available at filling stations, noting that, the few stations selling petrol have long queues.
Cletus Nwato said the stations have begun to hoard the products preferring to sell to the black market operators for higher profit.
However, a tanker driver, Molekwu Obinna, recounted how a colleague lost 33,000 liters of fuel valued at N3.9 million on the road when his tanker fell and the products spilled off.
“On daily basis, our trucks get damaged”, he said, adding that, on more than one occasion, both products and vehicle go in flames as a result of the bad road”.
The Chairman of NUPENG, Port Harcourt, Godwin Eruba, said that the situation would remain as long as the Eleme-Onne road remains in such poor condition.
He said that the strike is also for the safety of both the tanker drivers and other road users because when a loaded tanker falls, it spills its highly inflammable content, triggering loose of lives and property.
It would be recalled that the union, a fortnight ago, threatened to declare industrial action if Federal Government does not fix the bad road.
In a similar view, the youth of Eleme in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State also threatened few days ago that they would block entrance of the Federal Government-owned Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone.
The strike declared to also protest the deplorable Okigwe-Umuahia and Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene roads, among others, is already taking its toll on other states of Abia, Imo and Enugu states.
Scarcity of fuel has hit the three states and is causing untold hardships for motorists and others.
The tanker drivers are complaining that the deplorable conditions of the roads had been negatively affecting the transportation of products and their trucks.
Most petrol stations in the state refused to sell product, claiming they had ran out of products, giving rise to long queue at the few stations, including NNPC stations that sold fuel yesterday.
Some private marketers have taken the advantage to hike pump prices, dispensing between N140 and N120 per litre.
In Imo State, long queues were seen at most petrol stations.
Some staff of the stations along Egbu Road, Owerri, told Vanguard that they “have run out of premium motor spirit, PMS. We are told that tanker drivers are on strike. I cannot say why they went on strike but this is why this station has run out of petrol.”
However, few stations still dispensing the petroleum product maintained the official pump price of petrol per litre.
Similarly, long queues were seen in Enugu metropolis with restive motorists battling to get fuel.
Most of the petrol stations on the ever busy Ogui road were shut, forcing motorists to patronize black market operators.
Speaking, Commissioner for Inter-Ministerial Duties, Mr. Dan Anike, said “NUPENG briefed me yesterday (Wednesday) that they are embarking on a nationwide strike to show resentment to the deplorable condition of South-East roads.”
In Abia State, the residents, motorists and business operators have also expressed worry at the deteriorating fuel scarcity in the commercial hub of the South East, forcing hike in transport fares, and cost of goods and services.
Reacting to the suffering of the people, yesterday, the state Commissioner for Petroleum and Solid Minerals, Chief Don Ubani, appealed to residents of the state to exercise patience as efforts were being intensified to resolve the cause of the current fuel scarcity taking a toll on the people.
Ubani in a statement in Umuahia, said that “the cause of the fuel scarcity was the strike action by Petroleum Tanker Drivers in Eastern Zone comprising Port Harcourt, Aba and Calabar.”
He said the tanker drivers were “protesting the poor state of roads in the zone which has been affecting their operations.”
The commissioner further expressed confidence that “the matter will soon be over as their grievance is being looked into by the appropriate authority,” while appealing to members of the public to exercise patience.
There has been acute fuel scarcity in the state since the strike began.
Further investigations revealed that the situation had been unduly exploited by black market operators who now sell a litre of fuel at between N120 and N150.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Magnus Abe (left), with member, Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon Benjamin Horsfall, during a public function in Oproama community, Asari Toru LGA of Rivers State, recently.