JETTIES and petroleum tank farm owners have threatened to shut down their operations, if the Federal Government failed to pay their subsidy claims by Wednesday.

Mr Enoch Kanawa, the executive secretary of the group, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, on Wednesday.

Kanawa said the action would be a follow up to the seven-day ultimatum, which which would expire on Wednesday.

He told NAN that the government’s position was a deliberate refusal to pay the claims, adding that “we are going to shut down all our operations today (Wednesday) should the government fails to remit the outstanding claims to our members.

“In the last seven months, no marketer has received a kobo as subsidy from the government. The Federal Government is hiding under some clauses to shy away from its responsibility and the only option left to us is to shut down the tank farms.”

Kanawa said the non-payment of the claims had prevented many marketers from importing petroleum products into the country, adding that interest on loans from banks had continued to rise while payment of salaries of their staff was becoming difficult.

Efforts to get reaction of the Petroleum Pricing Product Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) on the issue failed.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) workers of sabotaging the efforts of government at ensuring transparency and accountability in the petroleum industry.

Expressing dismay over the decision by NUPENG to embark on a nationwide strike over the non-payment of subsidy claims to the oil marketers, the party urged for public support for the Federal Government against what it described as “a tiny cabal of oil marketers and political collaborators.”

In a statement issued by Chief Metu Olisah, its national publicity secretary, in Abuja, on Wednesday, the party said “the decision by NUPENG to embark on a nationwide strike is unpatriotic.”

It said no sensible government would allow a policy in a vital economic sector to be dictated by those who did not have the interest of the nation at heart.

The party called on Nigerians to appreciate the stand of the Federal Government on the matter, saying that the government was not fighting the cause of the PDP or that of the president, but what would benefit the people of Nigeria.

Comments (2)

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written by Bankii, August 23, 2012

O'yes. These depot and Tankfarm owners are CPC and ACN members!

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PDP SELF IMMOLATION?
written by Misbah Katsina, August 23, 2012

I can bet anyone that the tank farm owners are 90% PDP.
They simply wish to self-immolate.

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