Mkpoikana Udoma 15 August 2017, Sweetcrude, Port Harcourt – Another round of fuel scarcity will soon rock Port Harcourt and its environs as petroleum tanker drivers have suspended operations in Rivers State, over a collapsed Okulu-Aleto bridge in Eleme axis of the East West road.
Confirming the development to SweetcrudeReports on the telephone, Port Harcourt Zonal Chairman of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, Mr. Charles Eleto, said the suspension of operations by tanker drivers is to forestall accident on the road.
Eleto said PTD branch of NUPENG will not lift petroleum products from Port Harcourt Refinery until the bad sections of the road and the collapsed bridge on the Eleme axis of the East West road had been fixed.
He explained that in the event of fuel scarcity, members of the public should hold the government responsible for failing to fix the East West road despite the numerous appeals by the union.
He said NUPENG had since last Friday ordered PTD to withdraw services from the refinery for their safety and in order to avoid casualties.
“We don’t want to put the lives of our members in danger neither that of the public; tanker drivers are the people carrying loads to and fro that portion of the East West road.
“We are calling on the federal and the state governments to immediately put that road in order; anytime they are ready to put that road in order is when we will begin our normal operation.
“We are not the cause of any scarcity that may arise as a result of our withdrawal of operations but the state and federal governments should be held responsible.
“If you could recall, we have been shouting every now and then that the Eleme portion of the East West road should be put in order which should have taken care of that bridge, but now the bridge has collapsed, so we are not responsible for any scarcity that may erupt in the state,” Eleto said.
