Written by Yekini Jimoh, Lokoja
THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned President Goodluck Jonathan to be careful of policies that are capable of adding to the burdens of Nigerians.
The vice-president, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Issa Aremu, who gave the warning in Lokoja, at the weekend, during a colloquium organised in honour of the late Professor Bade Onimode, which took place at Omonogu Memorial Nursery and Primary School, urged him to stick to his electoral promises and desist from the subsidy removal agenda.
Aremu, who was a former chairman, Nigeria Textile Workers' Union (NTWU), described the move as "an abuse of mandate."
According to him, the NLC did not consider the present situation as subsidy, but blamed successive governments in Nigeria for the decadence in the oil sector, which, he said, had led to the importation of petroleum products.
He said: “Now, Nigeria has moved from the four-five refineries to full importation
"We do not even know how much we are producing; we depend on Shell and others to know how much fuel we are producing. And now, the government has the audacity to tell us to pay for the full price of fuel, when in actual sense, we do not believe that there is any subsidy, let alone removing it.”
He said with the continued exportion of crude and importation of refined oil, the Federal Government was creating jobs outside the country, while the number of unemployed youths was growing on a daily basis.
He added that where Nigerians were compelled to live without good roads, electricity, potable water and other social amenities that the government was expected to provide, it would be unacceptable to remove fuel subsidy.
SOURCE: Nigerian Tribune, 12 December 2011. http://www.tribune.com.ng
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