Former Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Amaechi Asugwuni, has asserted that there is no going back on the proposed strike scheduled for Wednesday as he claims the Federal Government has not handled the subsidy removal process properly.
This comes amid fuel shortages and hikes in the prices of the commodity across the country occasioned by President Bola Tinubu’s inaugural speech in which he declared that “fuel subsidy is gone”.
Speaking on Channels Television Sunrise Daily on Monday, Asugwuni stated that anything above the current price without a concrete plan for refineries to kickstart would make the country ‘unwise’ before the world.
The labour relations consultant noted that Nigerians are aware of the inevitability of the subsidy removal but expect a functional refinery in the country before starting the process.
“Strike is inevitable because people know that the Nigerian government was paying subsidies because it is not refining itself. So, doing away with subsidy without you refining after 30 years or more suggests incompetence,” he said.
Asugwuni faulted the government’s dependency on the recently commissioned Dangote Petrochemical Refinery, saying upon launch, the facility won’t bring down the cost of petrol as being touted.
“Using Dangote as a yardstick or determinant factor for subsidy removal is laughable. Dangote is Dangote, Dangote is not the Federal Government and let us not suggest that Dangote is now richer than Nigeria. It is not true.
