Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) at the weekend raised an alarm over alleged plans by the federal government to deregulate the downstream sector of the economy.
NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar, who disclosed this, said the organised labour would be forced to pull workers and the masses onto the streets to resist the “satanic move.”
Omar, who spoke at the international Women’s Day, said if the sector was left in the hands of private marketers, it would be disastrous as Nigerians will be thrown into hardship.
According to him, Nigerians are not favourably disposed to the planned privatisation of the downstream sector, because of the exploitative tendencies of businessmen.
He said: “What I make of the current fuel scarcity is that it is just a deliberate thing to put Nigerians into unnecessary suffering. What I learnt from some people out there is that government has intention of privatising the downstream sector of the petroleum industry; I do not know whether Nigerians are ready for this privatisation.”
Continuing, he said: “If they go ahead with it, government will just fold their hands and watch the private marketers do whatever they like with us.
“I do hope that government will be reasonable enough so that Nigerians will not have cause to rise up again and protest this privatisation.”
Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the NLC Women Commission, Lucy Offiong, has condemned the recent killing of over 40 students in Yobe state and the abduction of girls by the Boko Haram sect, urging the federal government to end the senseless killings.
According to her, the proposed national dialogue is a welcome development as it would create a better understanding of the need for one indivisible entity called Nigeria.
She said: “We are saddened by the spate of killings in our dear country Nigeria, especially recent dimension of targeting young people in schools and colleges.
“We, therefore, call on the President Goodluck Jonathan to take immediate steps to put a final stop to these unwarranted killings; enough is enough. We support the initiative of the national dialogue because it would afford Nigerians the opportunity to express themselves.”
