NUPENG Calls Off Strike, Says Issues Resolved

The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has called off the nationwide strike it embarked upon on Tuesday to protest against some labour issues in oil giant, Shell.

Mr Tokunbo Korodo, Chairman of NUPENG in South-West, confirmed to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in a text message, that the strike had been called off.

Dr Levi Ajuonuma, NNPC spokesman, had earlier informed NAN that the strike had been called off after the contentious issues were amicably resolved.

Meanwhile, the strike has caused? panic buying of petrol as many motorists in Lagos laid siege to filling stations in the aftermath of reports that NUPENG members had embarked on a nationwide strike.

The motorists said that were buying petrol in anticipation that the strike would cause petrol shortage.

A civil servant, Mr Sanni Abdul-Lateef, who was on the queue at MRS filling station in Alaka, told NAN that he got information late on Tuesday that NUPENG had embarked on an industrial strike.

“I don’t have choice than to queue at this? filling station to be able to buy fuel to power my generator and car.

“We hope that the strike will end very soon so that it will not cause another phase of economy sabotage in the country,’’ he said.

“Mrs Felicia Thompson, a businesswoman, who was also on the queue, said that scarcity of petrol would force motorists to buy at higher prices.

“This is why I am out to buy the fuel now,” she said.

Mr Muritala Sulaiman, MRS Manager, Alaka, however, said that the station had more than 5000 litres of petrol, but was experiencing power outage.

Sulaiman said that the station was having problems with its generators and this had limited its capacity to sell products.