By Victor Ahiuma-Young
STRIKING members of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD, branch of the National Union of  Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG have  suspended their seven-day warning strike one day after it began following an agreement with government to address their grivances.

The union was demanding among others, that government prosecute the military officer who allegedly killed one of its members along the Jos/Bauchi Road earlier this month.

Other grievances by the union include the seizure of two of its tankers by soldiers in Bori Barracks in Port Harcourt and Odogbo Barracks in Ibadan over a year ago and the planned sack of over 2,000 members working with MRS Group following a Mareva injunction by Bank PHB which led to the freezing of all accounts of MRS holdings thereby halting the operations of the group and  making it impossible for the company to pay the salaries of over 2000 workers who are members of the union.

National Secretary of PTD, Dayyabu Garga, who confirmed the suspension of the strike, said members would today resume lifting of products nationwide.

He said while the military authorities have agreed to fully compensate the family of late Comrade Mohammed Saidu who was allegedly killed by a soldier along the Jos/Bauchi Road earlier this month, they (Military authorities) also agreed to pay for the two seized trucks by soldiers in Bori Barracks in Port Harcourt and Odogbo Barracks in Ibadan over a year ago, but requested that the leadership of PTD provide proof of ownerships and other necessary documents.

Comrade Garga also noted that some of the employers, under the umbrella of JEPTFON, also gave assurance that they would sack over 2500 of PTD members whose line were said to be under threat because  a Mareva injunction by Bank PHB which led to the freezing of all accounts of MRS holdings thereby halting the operations of the group and  making it impossible for the company to pay the salaries.

Until the suspension of the strike long queues had resurfaced in most filling stations across the country and black marketers were beginning to feed fat on desperate motorists and other fuel users.