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From Adanna Nnamami, Abuja
The leadership of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), has warned the federal government and the Nigerian Navy to desist from destroying sites considered as “illegal” in the Niger-Delta region.
NULGE also expressed worry over the rising incidences of banditry and kidnapping in Local Government Areas in the country, and suggested the adoption of state policing to curb the menace.
The union, at a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, urged President Bola Tinubu to persuade the Nigerian Navy to halt the action, claiming that destroying those sites will have no positive impact on the country.
The President of NULGE, Ambali Olatunji, advised that rather than demolishing those refining facilities, they should be issued the necessary licences, be required to pay taxes, and engage young Nigerians in order to generate employment opportunities.
The union leader, while fielding questions from journalists said, “NEC-in-Session called on the Federal Government to consider licensing modular refineries to have the capacity to refine crude oil, this in turn creates employment and rural development in Nigeria.
“Succinctly, we recommend that they should allow modular refineries to be licensed. Some of these modular refineries are in existence and they are destroying them.
“We know that their operation is below standard, but why can’t we use Standard Organisation of Nigeria to look into it, register them, standardize the procedures, train the handlers and allow them to pay taxes to the government, employ workers, generate additional energy and shore up our GDP and forex reserves. That’s the way to go.
“If the multinationals are leaving the country, what the government cannot do, an individual is doing it in Nigeria but we’re not encouraging them. Where are we going? If we can work on those areas, coupled with minimum wage, the effects of fuel subsidy removal will go down.”
The President of NULGE also advised the federal government against buying Compress Natural Gas (CNG) buses, stating that the best course of action would be to establish conversion centres across the country so as to include the many Nigerians who currently own private vehicles.
“The NEC-in-Session take note of the hardship resulted from fuel subsidy removal and hereby call the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to mitigate the effect by creating Compress Natural Gas (CNG) Centres, a minimum of 3 Centres per State across the nation at a subsidized rate whereby motorists can have their petrol consuming vehicles converted,” he state.
