National secretariat of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers branch of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (PTD- NUPENG) has threatened to withdraw its members’ trucks from depots.
The union’s chairman, Comrade Augustine Egbon, made the threat yesterday in Abuja.
In a statement, he said the union’s action was prompted by the inspector general of police team’s seizure of members’ loaded trucks.
Already, there are fears that the planned strike, if not averted, could paralyse the loading of petroleum products and worsen the scarcity at retail outlets.
Egbon accused the IGP Task Force set up by the Office of the Inspector-General of Police of excesses.
Checks revealed that the PTD-NUPENG as part of its resolutions at its NEC meeting held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, urged the IGP to stop the high-handedness of the task force on petroleum products in impounding tankers on federal highways.
He recalled that two trucks loaded with Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) were wrongly impounded by the task force between July and August in Funtua, Katsina State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The PTD- NUPENG national chairman further added that despite documents presented to the task force on the depots where they were loaded and evidence of genuine certification by the regulatory agencies, the IGP office had refused to release the trucks.
He said, “The truck with registration number, GRY 155XA was loaded with 49,000 litres of AGO at Prudent Energy Limited in Oghara, Delta State. The destination was Sokoto but it was impounded in Funtua, Katsina State on July 31, 2024.
“The second truck with registration number, TWD272XA, with 45,000 litres of AGO was loaded with the products at Integrated Oil & Gas in Apapa, Lagos. Its destination was Yobe State before it was impounded in August in Abuja,” he said.
Egbon lamented that despite the fact that samples of the products from the two trucks were certified by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Products Regulatory Authority ( NMDPRA), the Office of the Inspector-General of Police Task Force team had refused to release the trucks.
The PTD- NUPENG national chairman who recalled several representations to the Office of the IGP said his union had been pushed to the wall with no other option than to ask its members to withdraw their services.
He said, “At our last NEC meeting, we issued a deadline to them, demanding for the release of the impounded trucks and a stoppage to the continued harassment of our members.
“We have been making our contributions to assist the federal government in its genuine efforts to make petroleum products available and ease the sufferings of Nigerians. It is unfortunate that the office of the IGP is unmindful of the threat that the excesses of its men constitute to the federal government determined efforts to promote effective distribution of petroleum products and peace in the industry. We are giving another two weeks notice. Failure to heed our demand by the office of the IGP, we will stop loading of products from the depots,” Egbon said.
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