Lagos- The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) on Tuesday appealed to Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to increase the supply of petroleum products to its depot in Apapa.
Mr Tokunbo Korodo, the Chairman, South-West Chapter of the union, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the product was hardly available at the NNPC Apapa depot.
“Our members are eager to collect the product from the depot but there is hardly any product at the Apapa depot.
“Even some private depots that have the product are selling at more than the stipulated price.
“It is of no use for our members to be coming to the depot on daily basis without loading the product,’’ he said.
Korodo said that there were issues on ground for the union to go on strike but because of the coming general elections and the present scarcity, they decided to suspend the idea.
“We have labour issues with Chevron Company, Total Oil and even the Federal Government but we decided to wait and see the end of this scarcity.
“Let it be known that our tanker drivers are not on strike, we are ready to go the extra mile to end this scarcity.
“We appeal to the Ministry of Finance to resolve whatever they have with oil marketers so that importations of products will commerce.
“The NNPC cannot supply the product all alone,” he said.
Meanwhile, long queue of vehicle at most Lagos petrol filling stations persisted on Tuesday as motorists rushed to buy the available product.
NAN reports also that more filling stations along Ikorodu road, Oshodi-Apapa expressway and Orile area of Lagos were on Tuesday opened to motorists.
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At Cele Bus stop along Oshodi Apapa expressway, motorists were seen queuing as early as 6 a.m. at petrol stations that open for sales at 8 a.m.
Mr Kole Badmus, a resident of Ilasamaja area of Lagos, appealed to marketers to reconsider their earlier position and commence the importation of refined petrol.
Badmus said that the appeal became imperative following the suffering of Nigerians across the nation and the exigencies of the rescheduled general elections.
NAN recalls that the NNPC had on March 2, introduced fresh measures to halt what it described as artificial petrol scarcity noticeable in some parts of the country.
NNPC had earlier announced plans to import more than one billion litres of refined petrol in March to address short fall in national supply. (NAN)
