There was palpable fear last week in Eleme, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State following alleged clash between petroleum tanker driver and community, over parking space.
An unconfirmed source hinted that Eleme youths were angry over parking space by tanker drivers which sparked-off conflict resulting to a petrol tanker being set ablaze.
There was palpable fear last week in Eleme, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State following alleged clash between petroleum tanker driver and community, over parking space.
An unconfirmed source hinted that Eleme youths were angry over parking space by tanker drivers which sparked-off conflict resulting to a petrol tanker being set ablaze.
Another source also hinted our correspondent that a member of the tanker drivers union was allegedly arrested by members of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, over illegal possession of petroleum product without relevant authorization papers. The source said that it led to the arrest, and subsequent detention of a tanker driver.
Shipping Position Daily checks in Port Harcourt revealed that these were the two causes of the trouble which later spread like wild fire, and which culminated to last week strike embarked upon by tanker Drivers in the Eleme area of Rivers State.
Following the strike, product scarcity started hitting on the commercial activities of Rivers and the neighbouring Bayelsa, where petroleum products scarcity hit the people causing transportation difficulty.
Our investigation confirmed that black market operators cashed – in on the crisis and took over the market, as supplies at filling stations in Rivers and Bayelsa were stalled. This caused temporary fuel scarcity as filling stations which had some products stopped selling, even as some exhausted their products, but could not replenish.
In Port Harcourt, transportation fares hit the roof as motorist charged triple their usual fares. The hike in black market sale of fuel rose as high as N500 per litre, at Port Harcourt, Mbiama and Yenagoa in Bayelsa State where, a 20 litre fuel sells as high as N14, 000, while 10 litre sold for N7000.
However at a media parley, the Rivers State Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources Okey Amadi attributed the scarcity of fuel in the state to an issue, which he said should not have happened between Civil Defence Corps and Tanker Drivers.
He said that the tanker driver that was reported to have been arrested has been released. He also said that the matter is already resolved, with a promise that the tanker drivers are back to work.
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