NUPENG threatens indefinite strike

Although the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) is yet to release the result of the test on the petroleum products said to have been adulterated, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has threatened to embark on an indefinite strike beginning from Monday if the police fail to impound the 20 tankers and arrest the drivers alleged to have been caught with adulterated diesel.

The union is accusing the Police in Lagos State of aiding and abetting the proliferation of adulterated petroleum products in the country.

Following NUPENG’s one-day warning strike which began Monday afternoon and ended 12am Tuesday, to express its displeasure over the alleged release by the Police of the 20 tankers, the union’s Lagos zone chairman, Tokunbo Korodo, said it had intercepted two of the tankers.

One of them was said to be carrying kerosene mixed with diesel, and the other meant for conveying diesel only, was loaded with kerosine.

“We have apprehended one tanker driver with adulterated product which police allowed to escape. We investigated and caught one red handed. Its content was diesel mixed with kerosene. We are experts, so we know when fuel is adulterated. Even mere seeing it you will know,” Mr Korodo said. He added that the tanker driver, also arrested, confessed to carrying the contaminated product.

“He loaded it from A-Z depot in Apapa and when we got to A-Z, he was only loaded for 21,000 litres instead of 33,000 litres capacity. He now added 12,000 litres of kerosene to it. The driver has been arrested and taken to Area B Command of Police on the instruction of the state PRO of Police, Frank Mba,” he said.

It was, however, gathered that the arrested tanker driver is currently being detained at the anti-fraud unit of the Police State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos State.

DPR steps in

Meanwhile, Paul Osu, the spokesperson of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the regulatory body for the petroleum industry, said the department has taken samples of the alleged adulterated product for test, and the results are being awaited.

“NUPENG has not reported anything to us. We are investigating based on the reports from the media not NUPENG. We visited where the said tankers with the contaminated products were located; we took samples of the product in the presence of the police and the yard owners, and the analysis is going on in the lab right now. It is only when the result is out that we can now say whether it’s off specification or within specification. By then we’ll issue a release,” said Mr Osu.

But NUPENG has said that the delay in the release of the test result by the DPR will not stop it from embarking on an indefinite strike, unless their demands are met.

Police angle

But the Lagos State police spokesperson, Mr Mba, said he was yet to act on the matter, adding he had no comment on why the 20 tankers allegedly carrying adulterated fuel were released.

“I have no comment. There’s nothing to write about that case now. But if you guys want to go ahead, you write. Nothing has been done. I don’t have any comment. I have nothing to tell you because I have not done anything,” Mr Mba said.

Mr Mba also criticised NUPENG and the media for not allowing the police to first conclude their investigation before informing the public on the alleged adulterated fuel, which probably is being sold to unsuspecting consumers.

“That is the error we always make in this country. We’ve not done anything and somebody is rushing to the media. Even when you have a good case and you do such rushing, you destroy the case; you frustrate the investigation and tomorrow people will complain,” said Mr Mba.

And the adulteration still goes on

Also this week, NUPENG’s Edo State chairman, Godwin Asemota, had decried an alleged circulation of adulterated kerosene in the state, saying “we don’t want bad kerosene in this state.”

In recent years, there have been several fire disasters across Nigeria resulting from the use of adulterated petroleum products, leading to numerous loss of lives and property.

One major incident was in October 2001, following lantern and cooking stove explosions in homes and enclosed environments in Lagos, which led to 125 people, mainly women, being treated for severe fire burns to the face, chest and abdomen for over three weeks at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).

By Peter NKANGA