The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Eket office, has decried the strike by Petroleum Tankers Driver’s (PTD), as fuel price moves between N250 and N300 per litre in Akwa Ibom.
Mr Bassey Nkanga said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Eket, Akwa Ibom..
He said that the strike had further caused hardship to the people of the state.
Nkanga said that the five-day strike had moved up the price of fuel due to non-supply of the product by the PTD in the state.
“There is no fuel in Akwa Ibom, Petroleum Tankers’ Drivers have not supplied petroleum products to Akwa Ibom in the past five days.
“I have alerted the government and the people concerned and the PTD – the tanker drivers.
“They are members of the NUPENG larger body. They have been having issues and I do not know why fuel has not come into the state in the past five days,’’ Nkanga said.
He said that men of the DPR were on ground to prevent marketers from taking advantage of the situation in the state, adding that sanction awaits those marketers who would take advantage of the situation.
“Our men are on ground; In case any marketer wants to take advantage of the situation, he will pay dearly for it.
“We are on it. As it is now and if by today we do not resolve the impasse, it would be terrible.
“By now, if all our efforts have yielded the desired results, nobody would have complained because we have cleared the issue in Calabar.
“If you go to Calabar, you just drive into filling stations there and buy and drive out without any problem.
“Imagine denying a state of an essential product for five days. Wherever they are selling fuel in the state, we are working to ensure nobody takes advantage of the situation,’’ he said.
Nkanga said that the DPR was doing its best to bargain with the tanker drivers’ union to ensure availability of the product.