Oil marketers are threatening to embark on yet another industrial action in protest against the decision of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to shut down the Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO) last week Monday.
According to Chairman of a concerned group of IPMAN, Mr. Abidemi Agunbiade, the shutdown of the NIPCO has affected more than 1,000 marketers who had paid money to load petrol before the shutdown.
“More than 450 million litres of fuel imported to discharge into NIPCO depot is still on the high seas due to the shutdown of the company”, Agunbiade said.
“About four vessels are on the high seas, including those of the NNPC. The stranded vessels are paying demurrage of 15,000 dollars to 20,000 dollars on daily basis due to the shutdown of NIPCO by the leadership of NUPENG”.
The shutdown, he further explained, has congested Apapa jetty with vessels previously ready to discharge products to NIPCO tank farms, while about 80 million litres of petrol remain locked in the depot.
He warned that all the retail outlets of IPMA would be shut down if NIPCO, which supplies over 20 per cent of the country’s fuel needs, is not reopened by the end of today (Monday).
He said the only reason it has not shut down so far is its control of 87 per cent retail outlets.
National Secretary of NUPENG, Mr Isaac Eberare refrained from commenting on the development, saying only the NUPENG president could answer questions on the matter.
As at Monday afternoon, marketers and workers at NIPCO were still protesting the closure of the company, some tanker drivers lamenting that they were stranded at the depot where they have been since the closure.
