Tina Amanda
Independent Petroleum Marketers Association, Rivers State, has cried out on the looming scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) within the next 48 hours if the internal crisis rocking NUPENG Port Harcourt Zone office is not urgently resolved.
Public Relation Officer of IPMAN, Comrade Chibudom Blessing, who disclosed this in a telephone interview with our correspondent, Tina Amanda, lamented that IPMAN is about to shut down its services in the state as a result of Marketers running out of PMS popularly known as petrol stock.
According to him, for over one week, NUPENG Tanker drivers have not operated and that has gruesomely affected the availability of petroleum products, most especially petrol.
“There have been internal crises that have to do with leadership issue in NUPENG for over one week. It has affected the distribution of petroleum products here in Rivers State. If NUPENG tankers have shut down its services pending when the matter will be, it means automatic withdrawal by IPMAN. We do not have the means to convey our products, because we cannot use our cars to convey petroleum products.
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“What marketers are still selling in Port Harcourt are reserves. In less than forty-eight hours, marketers will run out of stock, so what are we going to sell by them? Are we going to sell water, obviously not, so we will shut down our services pending when the issue is resolved”
He, however, called on the Rivers State Governments, stakeholders and all parties involved to urgently address the issue, in order to avert the untold hardship it will cause to Residents of the state.
Reacting to the situation, National Treasurer NUPENG, Comrade Alex Agwanwor, said the Union withdrew the services of its Tanker drivers in order to protect its members from further attacks by some aggrieved people in Eleme Community.
According to him, the crisis was as a result of a NUPENG Unit Election conducted in Port Harcourt refinery, which a none Eleme indigene emerged as Chairman and has led to the shutting down of NUPENG offices for safety
He stressed further that Eleme Community was not comfortable with the chairmanship position being relegated to a none Eleme indigene, stressing that NUPENG is a union that does not entertain any form of tribalism.
Meanwhile, in the latest development, our reporter gathered that consultation is ongoing between the Rivers State Government via Commissioner of Energy, NUPENG National Executive on way forward on the matter.
