The National Labour Congress (NLC) has vowed to take to the streets in protest if the current fuel scarcity crisis in the nation is not addressed.
The congress said it could no longer fold its arms and watch more Nigerians descend into poverty on account of the fuel scarcity crisis and its attendant negative spiral effect on the finances of Nigerian workers.
In a statement signed by Issa Aremu, a member of the National Executive Committee of the congress, in Kaduna on Friday, NLC said it was disheartening that Nigerians have continued to face fuel scarcity crisis despite the nation’s natural endowment.
The body said the protest would help “to force the ruling elites to face up to the challenges of governance of the most populous, promising but badly governed country on the continent.”
The statement further read, “The one month long fuel shortage has further worsened poverty (and) put productivity on hold. We dare not enter the new year with this recurring old mess.”
While commending Senate President Bukola Saraki’s directive to the the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) to cut short its recess and immediately convene industry stakeholders meeting in a bid to end the crisis, congress described the situation as a reflection of “crisis of corporate governance in the petroleum sector.”
“There is a deep seated conflict of interest in the downstream sector; regulators are operators, regulators are importers, importers are products hoarders, regulators are also saboteurs. Definitely, we have a sector capture in our hands. Nigeria and Nigerians need liberation,” NLC said.
The body equally demanded “consequences” for major players in the crisis.
The body also demanded a “total ban on importation to reinvent domestic refineries and beneficiation to crude oil.”
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