Yuletide: Drivers, Commuters Lament Oil Workers’ Strike

With barely eight
days to Christmas, a cross section of drivers and commuters have decried the strike embarked upon by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and National Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) over their demands which also include the fixing or reconstruction of the Eleme Refinery, Trailer Park axis of the East-West Road, Port Harcourt.
The drivers and commuters said although their demands were genuine,  it was ill-timed as it would affect this year’s Christmas celebration as commuters would be forced to pay high fee for transportation within and outside Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
According to them, the drivers would take advantage of the period and hike fares while the commuters and traders would also be affected seriously as they would increase prices of their goods to meet up the cost of transportation, thereby making the common people in the society to suffer the effect.
They condemned the strike especially at this period when the masses are planning for the festive period.
A commercial driver, Samuel John said he was not  happy that NUPENG and PENGASSAN are on strike because they want the poor masses to suffer.
According to him, most children of these people are overseas, and they have already arranged their Christmas package for them, so the people at home are the ones to feel the strike, “why don’t they strike in September or October so that Government  would call them for dialogue than now? I am ready to buy the fuel at even N200 but the passengers will suffer as I will charge N800 from Port Harcourt to Bori instead of the normal N400.
A petty trader Miss Kelechi Amos, also lamented over the ill-timed strike as the traders are also ready to hike prices of food stuffs and other goods if the strike by oil workers continues.
Amos said they could go to market, pay huge sum on transport and sell their goods and wares at a price that they cannot recover their transportation, talkless of making some gains for the Christmas and called for the suspension of the strike in the interest of the masses.
In her contribution, a student, Lydia William Okiemuta reiterated that the strike would definitely affect Christians celebration of Christmas, and condemned the period it was embarked upon.

Collins Barasimeye