By Gbenga Abulude
Petroleum Tanker Drivers have begun strike on Monday, August 10 after the meeting of their handlers, National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) with the Lagos State government ended in a deadlock.
According to the Chairman of NUPENG South West, Mr. Tayo Aboyeji, on Sunday, the state government officials did not meet their demands during the four-hour meeting, hence they had to proceed on the indefinite strike.
The NUPENG officials had complained of extortion and harassment of our members by security agents and wanted the state government to wade in and put a stop to the harassment.
Mr. Aboyeji said, “It is unfortunate that the strike might affect all other states in the federation, because most of them load their petroleum products in Lagos depots. Since they are not ready to address these issues, we will start the strike until they are able to resolve them.
“He said that NUPENG was not happy to disrupt fuel supply because of the effect adding they cannot continue to cope with the problems,” he said.
The National President of the NUPENG, Mr Williams Akporeha, had in a statement directed tanker drivers to begin the withdrawal of their services as from 12 midnight on Monday.
