Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has blamed the ongoing fuel scarcity on the activities of unscrupulous oil marketers, who are bent on blackmailing government into removing subsidy on petroleum products.
While urging necessary agencies of government, particularly Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, to wield the big stick on marketers hoarding products, the union described as unacceptable, the agonies people were going through on account of the artificial scarcity.
A statement signed by NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, in Abuja, urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to succumb to the antics of a few individuals that wanted him to act against the wishes of the masses.
It would be recalled that despite assurances from government and its agencies that there were adequate supply of petrol, most filling stations in major cities across the country have been under lock, causing long queues in few stations that have the product to dispense.
In Abuja for instance, petrol is being sold as high as N200 per litre at the open market, while black market price ranges from N350 at N400.
The statement reads in part: “Nigeria Labour Congress is outraged by the continuing incidences of fuel scarcity resulting in skyrocketing prices and long queues spreading to different parts of the country.
“We note that this is happening despite assurances from government and its agencies that there is enough fuel being distributed around the country and that citizens need not go into panic buying.
“That the situation has not visibly improved after more than 72 hours of such assurance means that the marketers and other groups that have held the country hostage over the years for their unearned profiteering from the petroleum sector are still determined to continue as if it is business as usual.
“It is completely unacceptable to us that Nigerians are forced to go through the perennial hardship especially towards the end of the year, and now have to cough out between N130 – N300 per litre of petrol in different parts of the country, instead of the official N87 per litre price. This for us shows a clear determination of the unpatriotic operators in the petroleum sector working to circumvent government regulation through blackmail and other unorthodox methods.
“Government needs to urgently address the issue of hoarding by marketers and others who have continued to canvass for so-called deregulation in which government would hands-off regulating prices of petroleum products.
“Given that petroleum products continue to be the artery of our economy, indeed our existence, it is naïve and foolhardy to expect that government will hands-off the downstream sector and allow for those whose sole purpose is profit-making to take over full control of determining the prices of these critical products.
“The Congress once again commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his stand against the removal of subsidy.
The on-going scarcity, for us, is a deliberate strategy by the cabal in the oil industry to force the hands of government to remove subsidy and therefore work against the interest of the Nigerian masses.
“They have done this and succeeded in the past, most particularly in the governments of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, through blackmail and deliberate hoarding of petroleum products.”
