Long queues set to return across Nigeria as association of fuel tankers commences strike
Nigerians may face biting fuel scarcity in some days as the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO, withdraws its service nationwide on Monday, February 19.
The union cited economic hardship caused by high operational costs and low freight rates for their decision.
NARTO’s National President, Yusuf Lawal Othman, while announcing the decision, said, “We will have to suspend operations latest from now till on Monday.
“We cannot continue to operate at a loss. Most people have parked. A lot more are going to the park.
“But from the point of the association itself, we are going to suspend operations on Monday.”
Othman stressed that the association has written letters to table the plight of unbearable cost of operation to the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu; Minister of Petroleum Resources; Director General, Department of State Services (DSS); Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) Chief Executive Officer; Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Group Chief Executive Officer; and the Marketers.
“We have written letters up to the level of the Chief of Staff. We have written to the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil) I will send you a copy,” he added.
“We have written to DG SSS. We have written to the GCEO. We have written to the Authority Chief Executive. We have written to the Major Marketers.”
Prices of goods and services are on the high side in Nigeria as the West African country struggles with its worst inflation in several years.
Citizens have called for a quick response by the government to halt the hurting economic downturn.
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has also announced a two-day national protest across the country from February 27 to 28.
Joe Ajaero, NLC president, declared that the decision to protest was taken after the end of the 14-day ultimatum earlier issued to the Federal Government over the nationwide hardship.
The NLC said in a statement that “it is regrettable that we are compelled to resort to such measures, but the persistent neglect of the welfare of citizens and Nigerian workers and the massive hardship leave us with no choice.”
