•Tinubu
Oil workers have urged President Bola Tinubu to relocate military chiefs to the Niger Delta to halt crude oil theft and generate more revenue for the country.
The workers, under the aegis of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), urged the Tinubu administration to pay more attention to the region as an increase to crude oil production was critical to stabilising the economy, reports The Nation.
President of PENGASSAN, Comrade Festus Osifo, who spoke on behalf of the oil workers at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union today in Abuja, noted that the country’s crude oil production could increase by 30 per cent if oil theft was tackled.
Osifo said: “We have tried to let government understand that they need to pay more attention to what’s happening in the Niger Delta. We’re talking about solid minerals they are quite good, we are talking about diversification they are quite good but they cannot come overnight. The easiest solution and what can come readily overnight is actually incremental production of crude oil today.
“If all is done the right way we could increase our crude oil production by nothing less than 30%. When this is done it’s going to give us more forex, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) could have much more financial muscles to be able to defend our naira. We implore President Tinubu to ask his commanders to relocate to Niger Delta and ensure that this menace of crude oil theft is put to a halt.
“If you put it to a halt you will be able to generate more revenue and at the end of the day, the Nigerian state will be better for it.”
Condemning the killing of military personnel at Okuama community in Delta state, Osifo urged the military to approach the situation with caution to avoid a repeat of what happened in Zaki Biam and Odi, while ensuring perpetrators of the act were caught and justice served.
The PENGASSAN President also expressed concerns over government’s explanation of only increasing the electricity tarriff of those within Band A and enjoying 20 hours light.
Osifo, who doubles as President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), noted that the details were currently being studied to allow labour address the issue properly, saying government may be deploying a strategy to ensure a seamless enforcement of a new tariff across all Bands.
According to him, labour would take a formal position after studying the details to ensure that the downtrodden Nigerians would not be affected.
He said: “We are cross – examining it. They said it’s for those within Band A and those within Band A are those that are receiving 20 hours light in a day, but we are to interrogate this further because as of today, just jumping from N66 to about N225 is quite enormous.
“We need to also check the cost today if you are powering your generator is it even up to N255? We think that government should exist for the purpose of serving the people. Looking at it peripherally without studying the detail because we are yet to study the details, we think that the price hike is quite astronomical.
“Given the currency floatation that has put us in this mess literally today, adding that to the subsidy removal, I think it is quite drastic.
“Part of our fear is also you know, government will come and they may test these for the high class as they have explained; for those living in Maitama and Asokoro. Who knows, in the next one week or two weeks, they may also cascade this down.”
