ULC Strike: NNPC cautions motorists against panic buying

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Monday cautioned motorists across the country against ‘panic buying’ of any petroleum product.

Mr Ndu Ughamadu, the NNPC Group General Manager (Group Public Affairs Division), gave the warning in a statement in Abuja.

According to NNPC, the corporations had sufficient Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, in stock to serve the nation for 48 days.

“Similarly, there is in stock, sufficient quantity of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) as well as Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) to serve the country.

“Motorists are further enjoined to report any challenge they may have in the course of purchasing any of these products to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

“The DPR is statutorily empowered to deal with such issues and has offices located in all parts of the country,’’ Ughamadu said.

NNPC assured that government was working to arrive at an amicable resolution of outstanding issues with the industry unions.

The United Labour Congress of Nigeria (ULC) had threatened the Federal Government to go on strike from Monday if it’s 11-point-demand was not met.

ULC is demanding, among others, that the Federal Government should stop stationing soldiers and policemen in its workplaces.

However, the Nigerian Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress and the Federal Ministry of Labour have insisted that the ULC was “fake”since it had not been recognised by government.

They urged Nigerians to ignore the group.

The NNPC, in another statement on the Apapa Jetty fire incident which occurred in the early hours of Monday, said the fire incident would not affect supply of petroleum products.

“Already, NNPC has deployed a team of engineers to the jetty, while the repair of the affected parts would commence immediately.

“The fire was sparked from the activities of hoodlums who were scooping fuels spilled from ships discharging fuels at the jetty’’.

NNPC said the its Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru, had been briefed on the incident.

“Dr Baru described the occurrence as unfortunate, but reiterated that the NNPC had more than 1.6 billion litres of PMS enough to last the nation 48 days.”