STRIKE: Fuel, gas scarcity beckons as NUPENG orders members to shut down

Despite the Nigerian Government’s resolve towards averting the scheduled strike by the organised labour, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has directed all its members to adhere to the strike timeline.

Consequently, NUPENG members will withdraw their services and shut down refineries, filling stations and other areas of operation under the union’s portfolio from midnight on Tuesday, October 3.

The union claimed that the directive was in accordance with the National Executive Council (NEC) resolution of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as well as the joint resolution of the NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) in a statement co-signed by its president, William Akporeha, and general secretary, Afolabi Olawale, on Sunday.

All of the union’s branches have been told to mobilise for the action, according to the union.

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It reads, “All NUPENG members, including the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), Petrol Stations Workers (PSW), Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers (LPGAR) and all other allied workers in the value chain of petroleum products distribution must comply with this directive from midnight of Tuesday, 3rd October 2023.

“All branches and units of our union are to take note and ensure full compliance by setting up compliance and monitoring teams in all operational locations,” the union said.

NUPENG said that it is aware of the huge impacts a 24-hour industrial action by the organized labour would have on businesses and socio-economic lives of the nation, regretting unfortunately, that government’s actions and inactions are inextricably forcing the organized labour to take “this very hard and painful route of last resort to demand for needful socio-economic policies to ameliorate and cushion the debilitating and dehumanizing living conditions of Nigerians generally.”

The union also asserted that the government’s extreme insensitivity and lack of regard for organised workers and the Nigerian people was beyond any reasonable question.

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