The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) said yesterday that the scourge of fuel scarcity will persist in the country unless the federal government makes efforts to refine petroleum products in the country and make the nation’s refineries work again.
President of the union, Comrade Achese Igwe at a news conference in Lagos yesterday, stressed the need for the removal of fuel subsidy and deregulation of the downstream sector.
He said: “Until the downstream sector is deregulated and fuel subsidy is removed completely, we will continue to have fuel scarcity one time or the other. It is unfair for the federal government to agree to pay accrued interests and exchange rate differentials on behalf of importers. They agreed to pay because government has failed in its responsibility with respect to epileptic refineries”.
Mr. Igwe said it was a shame that Nigeria is continually importing petroleum products despite its large hydrocarbon deposits.
He carpeted past and present leaders of the country for the endemic corruption in the downstream sector of the nation’s oil industry.
