Biting fuel scarcity took a toll on business activities in Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital as the strike action called by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG in protest over the disengagement of their members by oil companies in the state has prevented the lifting of petroleum products to filling stations.
Long queues were seen in major filling stations across the state capital over the weekend with most of filling stations without petroleum products.
This has prompted the intervention of Rivers state government in the dispute which has paralysed activities in the depots since last week.
After a seven hour meeting, yesterday, Austim Tam-George, Rivers state commissioner for information assured that an amicable solution was in sight.
“There has been a dispute between NUPENG and these companies we understand are contractors to SPDC. Rivers State government is not a party to this dispute. We have reached several resolutions based on the extensive consultations that we’ve made with all the parties concerned. One of the resolutions is that individuals that have been affected by company’s decisions namely the termination of appointment by certain individuals by these companies will be reversed by the companies.”
All the parties to the dispute were in attendance at the marathon negotiation session including the leadership of NUPENG in the state, management of UNITRAM Nigeria Limited, Fedison Manpower Company, representatives of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company PPMC and the Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources.
Meanwhile residents are hoping for a quick solution to the problem, stressing that it’s bad enough to pay a higher price for fuel, spending long time in fuel queus
“It is already bad enough that we have to pay more fuel, but I cannot understand why we have to also be subjected to spending long time on fuel queues,” complained Kingsley Oleka, a motorist.
NUPENG has been speaking against the gale of disengagement by companies in the banking, oil and gas and aviation sectors, stating that the actions does not bode well for the country.
Igwe Achese, NUPENG President has urged the National Assembly to halt the retrenchments in these sectors in order not to worsen unemployment.
ISAAC ANYAOGU
