Tanker drivers, marketers down tools over bad roads

TANKER drivers under the auspices of Petroleum Tanker Drivers Association (PTD) and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) have commenced an indefinite strike to protest against the deplorable condition of the Calabar-Itu and Calabar-Ikom federal highways and lack of parking space for their trucks in Cross River State.

Consequently, fuel scarcity has hit the quiet city of Calabar, the state capital.

Our correspondent observed that most filling stations in the city had stopped dispensing fuel while the few that were selling sold at exorbitant prices with the attendant long queues of vehicles.

The product was being sold at the facilities between N120 and N150 per litre while the black market went for between N250 and N300 per litre.

Expectedly, transport fares have gone shot up astronomically with commercial vehicles charging between N100 and N200 for a normal short distance of N50.

The chairman of PTD, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Calabar Unit, Elder Edem Okono, while decrying the poor condition of federal roads in the state said: “We have lost many trucks and lives. This year alone, we have lost more than 100 trucks due to the bad roads”.

He appealed for urgent intervention.

Also speaking, the chairman of IPMAN, Calabar Depot, Robert Ubi, said they had withdrawn services till further notice as the roads were inflicting hardship on his members and their investments.