Despite the government's repeated claims that it had enough petroleum products on hand, the scarcity has persisted, exacerbated by the country's poor electricity supply.
The Precision, Electrical and Related Equipment Senior Staff Association has said stakeholders in the private sector are responsible for the persistent fuel scarcity amid hikes in the prices of petroleum products in Nigeria.
Nigerians have continued to lament the hardship brought about by the scarcity of petroleum products across the country, as businesses and households that rely on generators for power supply groan in the dark.
In recent weeks, motorists across Nigeria have had difficulty getting premium motor spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol while commuters have lamented the ripple effects of the scarcity as a result of hikes in transport fares in the country.
Despite the government's repeated claims that it had enough petroleum products on hand, the scarcity has persisted, exacerbated by the country's poor electricity supply.
Reacting to this development, the union’s national president, Rufus Olusesan and its General Secretary, Dele Ojo, in a statement jointly signed on Tuesday lamented that the fuel scarcity has negatively affected all major sectors in the country.
The association, therefore, blamed “private sector domination of the oil and gas sector and calls for public control of the sector under workers and consumers' transparent and democratic management”.
It also tasked “the trade union movement on mobilizing the workers and poor masses for resistance”.
It lamented that petrol is being sold by many fuel stations across the country above the official pump price, which recent reports said was quietly adjusted to N185 per litre by the government.
The association said, “As a result, the statement demanded an immediate return of the increased PMS price to the official price, as well as firm measures to halt hoarding and ensure the availability of petroleum products at affordable prices for the sake of Nigerian workers and the poor, who can hardly afford the increase in transport fares due to the scarcity and high price of PMS.”
The statement continued: “It has come to our attention that President Buhari has set up a committee to look at the issues causing the scarcity. As far as we are concerned, this is a step that is too little and too late.
“We do not need a committee to know where the problem lies. Much before now, organized labour as well as civil society have dissected the problems of Nigeria's oil and gas sector and put forward recommendations which have been largely ignored by successive governments in the country.
“We note that the domination of Nigeria's oil and gas sector by private profiteers, just as in the privatization of power and other sectors, have only led to one crisis after the other, as against the false promise of improved quality and access to petrol and other associated products during the privatization process.
“Rather than take a cue from past experiences and invest in the resuscitation of the nation's public refineries, the present government is hinging its hope of resolving the crisis on the completion of a refinery owned by Aliko Dangote - a die-hard capitalist whose sole purpose of building it is to amass as much profit as possible. Such false hope is baseless!
“To guarantee availability of petroleum products at affordable prices, we call on the government to end the domination of the oil and gas sector by private interests whose unbridled profit- motive, corruption and government inefficiency are the reasons for the perennial crisis of fuel scarcity and hike in prices. In addition, we demand the public ownership of Nigeria's oil and gas sector under workers’ and consumers’ democratic control and management.
“Also, it is important to link the struggle to end a recurring fuel crisis in Nigeria with the need to wrestle power from the thieving capitalist elites and cause a socialist transformation in the country. This is because the fuel crisis is not due to a lack of potential resources to efficiently run the sector, but because of capitalist philosophy and the drive for private profit that it promotes, which cannot but continue to result in general attacks on social needs.”
“This is why we want to challenge the organized labour movement and civil society to come out of their silence which has gone on for far too long and to be prepared to mobilize Nigerians out for a sustained mass struggle that would involve general strike and mass protest until the government is compelled to listen and end this suffering,” it added.