By Olasunkanmi Akoni
LAGOS — Following the seizure of  abandoned tankers and other articulated vehicles on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway at the expiration of the 48-hour ultimatum, members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, yesterday,  threatened to embark on strike.

Some of the aggrieved drivers who stormed the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa Motor Park, where some of the impounded trucks were parked, vowed to bring the state to a standstill if the state government failed to release the impounded vehicles.

One of the drivers, who simply identified himself as Mr Sarumi, accused the state government of making the release of the tankers difficult by demanding tax clearance, which he said most drivers and owners of the tankers did not have.

He said:“We are ready to pay the towing fine but the government officials are asking us to present tax clearance. This is subjecting us to unnecessary rigour. We will mobilise our people to stop work so that government can release our vehicles.”

General Secretary of NUPENG, Mr. Elijah Okugbo, when contacted said government impounded the vehicles without prior dialogue with the leadership of the oil workers.

He said Lagos oil depot remained the only terminal where fuel was distributed to other parts of the country due to the closure of other depots.

Okugbo explained: “Though we learnt that the state Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, directed the tanker drivers to take their vehicles away from the roads, we believed that it would have been better to discuss with us before embarking on the exercise.”

He noted that tanker drivers were not responsible for heavy traffic on the Apapa-Oshodi Road, but the bad state of the road.