Benue govt urges NUPENG to end strike
The Benue State government has urged the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to end its ongoing three-day warning strike and resume the sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Deborah Aber, told journalists on Tuesday in Makurdi that the strike action was uncalled for.
NUPENG, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), and the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) embarked on a three-day warning strike, shutting down all filling stations in Benue.
Ms Aber said the government received a letter from NUPENG requesting payment of over N40 million as compensation for the vandalised PMS tank in 2022.
She said the government, upon receipt of the letter, wrote to the police and SSS to get full details of what transpired back then.
The SSG stated that the state government strongly believed the incident was purely a criminal matter and that the government was not involved.
She said NUPENG wrote and informed the government of the incident that happened at Aliade in 2022.
“In the letter, they were asking for payment for their 45,000 litres of PMS they lost through the activities of vandals in 2022 at Aliade.
“We needed to sit down and look at the whole scenario and how it played out. Because to us, it appeared it was a pure criminal case of theft and vandalism, and the government was not involved in it at all.
“We have held several meetings with them. Surprisingly, we woke up today, and the stations were locked. The government, too, is surprised because we are still at the discussion table.
“When we received the letter, we wrote to the police and DSS to furnish us with what happened that time. In the letter, they were claiming payment of over N40 million for the loss of their goods in 2022,” she said.
According to her, the investigation revealed that the unions embarked on the strike action in demand for the payment of 45,000 litres of fuel that was carted away from a tanker by hoodlums in Aliade, Gwer-East LG, in 2022.
All efforts to get officials of the unions to comment on the strike prove abortive.
(NAN)
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