NLC urges Buhari to sanitise petroleum industry

Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has urged the new administration of Muhammadu Buhari to sanitize the petroleum industry which they described as the plank of the Nigerian economy; and as a result should be sanitized to weed out corrupt elements in the system.
While restating their stand against any plan by the federal government to remove subsidy on premium motor spirit otherwise known as fuel, they advised the government to be careful in handling the fuel subsidy issues, and not allow itself to be blackmailed, not even by petroleum marketers, to abandon the delivery of goods and services that help the economy out of prevailing doldrums.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja recently, NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba alleged that the issue of subsidy payment crisis which resulted in artificial scarcity of the product is long overdue for resolve, calling on the President to thoroughly sanitise the industry for a durable uninterrupted supply and uniform prize across Nigeria.
Comrade Wabba expressed hope that the new government will unlock the great economic potentials in the industry, considering the inherent corruption in the system which had inflicted untold hardship on Nigerians.
“There is lot of cabals in the oil and gas sector, and the position of NLC is that we should do the needful and bring serious reforms to that sector. We need those social changes that can drive the process affectively. For instance why do we continue to import finished product?
“Among member states in the OPEC community, it is only Nigeria that does not have the capacity to refine product. This is man-made and it is part of our social problem, so why can’t we fix it for the good of the economy,’’ he asked.
He however recall in 2011, when the labour movement entered into agreement with the Federal Government to revitalize the refineries to full capacity, the agreement stated that government should build modular refineries within two years to address domestic needs.
“But up till now, nothing has been done to that regard, and that is why there is recurrent challenge of shortage of petroleum product supply across the nation’’ he said.
On the participation of NLC in the just concluded ILO Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, the labour leaders said that NLC and federal government engaged the world labour leaders on ways to enhance the relationship between Nigeria and ILO especially as regards social dialogue and world of work.
He said that the benefits of the conference were enormous, especially as it concerns the economy, development in the labour workforce, welfare and wellbeing of workers.