NUPENG Wants State Of Emergency In Oil, Gas Sector

The Nigerian Union of
Petroleum and National Gas Workers (NUPENG) has appealed to the government to do the needful in the oil and gas sector of the nation’s  economy by declaring a state of emergency in the sector.
A statement by the union’s National President, Comrade  Igwe Achese, said what the union expects the government to do is to declare  a state of emergency in the sector in order to give it necessary antidote to sit up and take charge of the responsibility in the sector.
Achese stressed that the Federal government needs to declare state of emergency in the downstream  sector and stop the exportation of crusade oil as being done today.
He said major portion of crusade oil that is being extracted  should be refined locally here than being refined  and imported into the country.
The NUPENG boss tasked the Federal government to ensure that the nation’s refineries are  working optimally by rehabilitating the existing refineries  and also build  new refineries.
He appealed to government to stop payment of subsidy in the  oil and gas sector stressing that subsidy only enriches few Nigerians at the detriment of millions of Nigerians.
The Labour Leader said that the government needs to create the enabling environment to ensure measures are put in place  for the oil and gas sector to  derive  the necessary  revenue  needed by the country.
Achese, an NLC presidential candidate in this month’s delegates conference election of  the union said the Federal government’s declaration of austerity measures is a wrong approach to the economic challenges being faced by Nigerians, stressing that adoption of austerity measures is never the way out of the challenges.
He rather appealed to the government to sit down and think out a solution to the economic challenges faced by the country instead of adopting  austerity measure.
Achese  said that  the state of emergency in the oil and gas sector can only last  for two years for the  government  to turn  around the fortunes of the sector and  restore  normalcy.
He called upon governments at all levels to give  priority attention to the welfare  of Nigerian thereby  their  living conditions.

Philip Okparaji