“no excuse is good enough to cripple the country” – Labour Union
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) say the lingering fuel shortages and price hike in the country are no longer tenable, urging the Buhari regime to end the exploitation.
The presidents of NLC and the TUC said this in a statement, signed by Ayuba Wabba and Festus Osifo on Saturday in Abuja.
Organised Labour stressed that the fuel shortages, price hike and avoidable long queues in filling stations are unacceptable and no longer tolerable.
The labour leaders described the situation as avoidable, unnecessary, crippling and pain-inducing fuel shortages and unapproved price hike of up to N240 per litre in the country.
They warned “no excuse is good enough to cripple the country.
”If there are challenges, they should be fixed. We have a government in power to fix challenges, not to make excuses,’’ they said in their statement.
The statement said the labour leaders were bewildered and disturbed by the persistent shortage and uncontrollable prices that players in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry were meting out to Nigerians.
It noted that the persistent shortages of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, had become a source of pain to the Nigerian people.
It said this had led not just to long avoidable queues, but to adulteration of the product by unscrupulous elements, exploitation of the consumers and turning fuel stations to traffic menace.
“All these have tragic consequences for the Nigerian people and debilitating effects on the health of the economy which itself is not in good state.
“We are reliably informed that the shortage is deliberately fostered by players in the downstream sector in order to hike the price far above the government approved threshold.
