TANKER DRIVERS BEGIN NATIONWIDE STRIKE TOMORROW

The Petroleum Tankers Drivers (PTD), an arm of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has vowed to commence a nationwide strike tomorrow.
NUPENG’s President, Igwe Achese, announced this in a communiqué at the weekend in Lagos at the end of its Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting.
He said the strike would draw attention of the federal government and other stakeholders to some unresolved issues bordering on the welfare of workers such as bad roads, poor remuneration, insecurity and alleged excesses of some security agencies.
“To avert the pains and discomfort the action might cause, the CWC-in-Session calls on the federal government to urgently intervene and apprehend the unfortunate situation to enable NARTO meet its obligations to tanker drivers,” the communiqué said.
The tanker drivers called on the National Assembly to urgently pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to tackle corruption plaguing the oil sector.
They also demanded commercialisation of the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as well as the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries.
The union also vowed to resist any attempt to increase the pump price of petrol.

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TANKER DRIVERS BEGIN NATIONWIDE STRIKE TOMORROW

The Petroleum Tankers Drivers (PTD), an arm of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has vowed to commence a nationwide strike tomorrow.
NUPENG’s President, Igwe Achese, announced this in a communiqué at the weekend in Lagos at the end of its Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting.
He said the strike would draw attention of the federal government and other stakeholders to some unresolved issues bordering on the welfare of workers such as bad roads, poor remuneration, insecurity and alleged excesses of some security agencies.
“To avert the pains and discomfort the action might cause, the CWC-in-Session calls on the federal government to urgently intervene and apprehend the unfortunate situation to enable NARTO meet its obligations to tanker drivers,” the communiqué said.
The tanker drivers called on the National Assembly to urgently pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to tackle corruption plaguing the oil sector.
They also demanded commercialisation of the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as well as the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries.
The union also vowed to resist any attempt to increase the pump price of petrol.

Read More »

41 die of meningitis in Sokoto State – Commissioner

The death toll as a result of the meningitis epidemic in Sokoto State has now risen to 41, Health Commissioner Dr Balarabe Kakale has said.

Kakale, disclosed this to newsmen in Sokoto on Sunday when he gave an update on the state of high alert declared by the state government since on March 20.

He said that the deaths were mostly recorded out of the nearly 600 clinically confirmed cases of meningitis in the eight worst-hit local governments.

They are Rabah, Kebbe, Tureta, Gada, Dange/Shuni, Wamakko, Kware and Bodinga.

Kakale said:“the epidemic was caused by the type “C’’ strain of meningitis and not the type “A’’ strain which the people of the state had hitherto developed immunity for.

“This new strain of meningitis is deadlier than the dreaded ebola disease as it kills within four to six hours of afflicting a patient.

“More than eighty per cent of the victims also had not been immunised, hence, the aggravation of the epidemic.’’

The commissioner further stated that the state government has embarked on a state-wide, mass vaccination for the people of the state, against meningitis.

He explained that over 700,000 persons, aged one to thirty years were being targeted across the 23 local governments of the state.

Kakale further stressed the need for the people of the state to ensure that their children were fully immunised against the child killer diseases like measles, whooping cough, yellow fever and diphtheria, among others.

“They should also desist from self medication as adequate drugs and medicament were provided by the state government for the free treatment of the patients.

“No fewer than one hundred medical personnel comprising of medical Doctors, Nurses, ambulances and other logistics are still operating across the state.

“The people should also desist attaching traditional beliefs like witchcraft and report all suspected cases of meningitis, measles and other diseases to the nearest health facility.

“We will not rest on our oars until when the epidemic is fully mitigated, although the cases had drastically reduced.

“Some of the isolation camps hitherto set had since been closed in most of the local governments,’’ Kakale said. (NAN)

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‘Nigerians need three million cooking gas cylinders annually’

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) says that Nigerians need no less than three million Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) also, known as cooking gas cylinders, annually.

Mr Simbi Wabate, the Executive Secretary of the Board, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday.
According to him, the only LPG cylinder manufacturing company in the country located at Isheri in Ogun , has capacity to produce about 400,000 cooking gas cylinders yearly.

He said this was far below what Nigerian homes required annually.

He said that this had encouraged the in-flow of substandard and expired LPG cylinders into the country.

Wabate said that in order to stop this, the board had conceived what he called “the local manufacture of liquefied gas cylinders’ initiative’’.

He said this would create employment opportunities, stop importation of LPG cylinders and jump-start a new cylinder-producing industry.

According to him, the initiative is connected to the Federal Government’s domestic gas utilisation programme aimed at encouraging the use of cooking gas by every home in the country.

He said that studies had shown that for domestic gas utilisation programme to pull through; there was the need to address the availability, affordability and acceptability of LPG and its cylinders by all stakeholders. 

Wabate said the initiative would make cylinders affordable and create a new industry in the LPG value chain with respect to local manufacturing.

The executive secretary said it would also enhance the use of cleaner fuel supply, thereby, reducing environmental pollution in the country.

It would also reduce the utilisation of firewood which would discourage deforestation, he said.
Wabate said that the board would develop a funding-model to support would-be investors.

He said this had led the board to go into partnership with the Bank of Industry (BoI).

NAN reports that NCDMB was created to realise Federal Government’s aspiration of increasing indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry, build local capacity, and create linkages with other sectors of the national economy.

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