Petroleum Tanker Drivers arm of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) have shelved their planned strike.
Both groups had last week threatened to embark on strike over the alleged diversion of the N621bn road fund provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the failure of government to increase freight rate for transporting petrol.
However, NNPC announced on Thursday that NUPENG-PTD and NARTO had to suspend their planned industrial action after the intervention of the national oil company.
It said the decision was reached after a critical stakeholders’ engagement that involved the downstream oil sector regulator, NNPC, NUPENG-PTD and NARTO in Abuja on Thursday.
The communique issued at the end of the meeting stated that NNPC provided updates on the current status of the road construction and rehabilitation projects under the road infrastructure tax credit scheme.
It assured the stakeholders that the funding earmarked for the 21 critical roads would be applied for the intended purpose only.
NNPC in a series of tweets on its official handle also said the stakeholders will work together in monitoring the road construction.
The communique added;
The stakeholders requested for completion of the ongoing discussion on the review of the freight rates to cover operational costs and highlighted the precarious situation that truck owners face in the light of current economic realities.
On the review of freight rate for transporters, it stated that the stakeholders requested for completion of the ongoing discussion on the review of the freight rates to cover operational costs and highlighted the precarious situation that truck owners face in the light of current economic realities.
The downstream regulator informed the meeting that a committee had been constituted to review the rates which include PTD, NARTO and NUPENG in addition to other stakeholders.
It added;
All parties agreed to work expeditiously towards concluding the review of the freight rate and make recommendations to the government.
COMMUNIQUE ON CRITICAL STAKEHOLDERS’ ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN NARTO, PTD, NUPENG, NMDPRA AND NNPC LTD ON FEBRUARY 17, 2022 AT NNPC TOWERS
Following the engagement between NMDPRA, NNPC, PTD, NARTO, and NUPENG, the parties resolved as follows: pic.twitter.com/suNZeAH62n
— NNPCLimited (@NNPCgroup) February 17, 2022
On the nationwide fuel scarcity, all parties during the meeting agreed to work to ensure “efficient distribution of petroleum products across the country”.
