- NANS to shut down tertiary schools in Ekiti
From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa and Wole Balogun, Ekiti
Leadership of Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) has said it will join jthe Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the trade Union Congress (TUC) to protest increase in the pump price of petrol.
The group described by the decision by the Federal Government as “lacking human face and wicked.”
The CLO, in a statement, through its Bayelsa State chapter chairman, Chief Nengi James, said though Nigerians yearn for an end to fuel scarcity and removal of subsidy, the sudden decision by the President Mohammad Buhari-led administration to increase the pump price of petrol, when most workers in the states were yet to receive salaries is “unacceptable and condemnable.”
James disclosed that the CLO is ready to join forces with the Nigerian Labour Congress(NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and other Civil Society groups to stage a massive protest against the drastic decision of the Federal Government.
He said: “The CLO condemns, in totality, the decision of the federal government.
“We consider the decision as anti-people and without proper consultation.
“Majority of Nigerians want the fuel scarcity to end and also support removal of subsidy, but, when you wake up at the militarised side of your bed and announce such policies without the knowledge of already suffering Nigerians, you are not fair but inhuman.”
“If the Buhari administration wants to show its might, it should have started with a fiat, directing the states to pay workers’ salaries up-to-date.
“We call on him to reverse the decision or face the wrath of the people.”
“In the Niger Delta, boats are the means of transportation. Where a car can use 30 litres, boat consume more than 70 litres. That means the people will be subjected to increase in boat fare. Workers will be made to pay from a non-existent salary,” James said.
Meanwhile, Ekiti chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Students(NANS), said it has concluded plans to shut down all tertiary institutions in the state tomorrow in a showdown against over the recent hike in the price of petrol.
NANS, in a statement by the chairman of the chapter, Shina Awopeju, yesterday described the increase in pump price from N87 to N145 as ‘’cruel, wicked, insensitive and brazenly oppressive.”
The students’ leader asserted that the increase would aggravate the already unbearable level of inflation in the economy and bring untold hardship on poor Nigerians.
“Everybody appreciates the fact that when the price of petrol goes up, the transport cost will go higher. This has been the case even when the increase was only marginal. The negative impact of the increase in petrol price goes beyond pushing up the transportation cost. It would also raise the cost of producing goods and services, in particular, the prices of goods, clothing and other necessities of life will go up and this will affect poor Nigerians, of which Nigerian students constitute over 80 percent.”