Nigerian Newsday

By Dogara ,Kaduna.

Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union (PTD-NUPENG) has appealed to the Federal Government to do all that is necessary for the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (PPMC) to resume operation so as to make petroleum products available particularly to the Northern Parts of the country where shortage of the products has been causing long queues at fuel stations.

The Kaduna refinery has not been operating for over six months now because the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) have not been pumping the much need products to the refinery.

Chairman of Kaduna unit of PTD-NUPENG, Comrade Nuhu Mohammed who made the appeal for the reopening of operations at the KRPC said the refinery is too strategic to the nation to be allowed to lie unoperated. Continued shutdown of the refinery and lack of petroleum products, Comrade Nuhu said, is causing much hardship to countless users of the commodity who now spend hours of valuable time at stations before they could be served.

On a related issue, the Kaduna PTD-NUPENG chairman who is also the National Treasurer of the union urged the Federal Government to stipulate stiffer punishment to petroleum product pipeline vandals to discourage pipeline vandalisation and stop the fatal effects the illegal act has been causing.

"All those arrested and confirmed to be pipeline vandals must be prosecuted severely to serve as a deterrent to others who may wish to try the condemnable act", the PTD national treasurer said.

He reminded the Federal Government of a 30 –day ultimatum which the national leadership of PTD-NUPENG has given within which the sundry issues must be addressed, failure of which the PTD intends to go on nationwide strike "If the Federal Government fails to address the problems we have articulated within the 30-days, that is from May 30 to June 29, 2006; we will have no choice but to start a nationwide strike", the union leader said.