NEWS UPDATES 28/01/2022
Fuel Subsidy: NLC Queries Consumption Figures Says FG Has Wasted $10bn On Refineries’ Rehabilitation
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has accused the federal government of frittering away $10 billion on the renovation of the country’s four refineries without any tangible result.
It said the lasting solution to the crisis associated with petrol subsidy could only be resolved through the construction of new refineries in the country.
The NLC president, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, stated this in Akure, the Ondo state capital, while speaking on the suspension of the planned nationwide rally against the proposed increase in pump price.
Represented by the national general secretary, Radio, Television and Theatre Arts Workers Union (RATTAWU), Comrade Akpausoh Akpausoh, who coordinated the suspended protest, Wabba said several attempts to resuscitate the existing refineries had failed with over $10 billion going down the drain.
On the suspended protest on fuel subsidy removal, Wabba used the opportunity to demobilise the labour movement in Ondo state.
He, therefore, declared that the only way out of the fuel subsidy crisis was for the federal government to establish another set of refineries so that the importation of finished products of crude oil would come to an end.
Comrade Wabba noted that the federal government’s attempt to hike fuel pump price was illegal because it ran foul of the November 20, 2020 agreement reached by the federal government and the labour union on fuel subsidy.
He said a technical committee was constituted to meet and deliberate on the matter and that it was agreed that no action should be taken on fuel subsidy removal without the input of the labour in the decision-making.
The NLC president, therefore, advised the federal government to inject the proposed fund (N5000) it planned to pay the underprivileged citizenry monthly into the construction of new refineries.
In a remark, the Ondo State NLC chairman, Comrade Sunday Adeleye, who was represented by his vice chairman, Comrade Victor Amoko, said there was no way the oil industry crisis would not persist if the refineries in the country remain moribund.
While lamenting the economic crunch facing Nigerians, the Ondo State Chairman of the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), Comrade Oluwaniyi Fabunmi, appealed to the federal government to set a timeline for revamping old refineries and constructing new ones.