In a statement on Thursday, the MSA blamed the Buhari government, adding that it was their act of negligence that led to the importation of adulterated petrol.
A group, Movement for a Socialist Alternative says President Muhammadu Buhari should be held responsible for fuel scarcity and importation of contaminated petroleum products in the country.
In a statement on Thursday, the MSA blamed the Buhari government, adding that it was their act of negligence that led to the importation of adulterated petrol.
The group further said it would further blame the government considering the failure of the Buhari regime to fix any of the four refineries in the country.
The statement signed by Aj. Dagga Tolar, the General Secretary of the group reads, “Barely two weeks after the Nigerian Labour Congress suspended its nationwide protest over the Federal Government planned hike in fuel price, scarcity of the product surfaced in almost all parts of the country.
“According to reports from the FG, the cause of the scarcity of fuel is a result of adulterated fuel in circulation. The government says it found an “unsafe quantity of methanol in petrol imported into the country.”
“This unfortunate incident has resulted in a situation where the working masses have become victims of an irresponsible government. Many small scale businesses that depend on fuel to power their generating set for carrying out business activities are been affected, many Nigerians are stranded in bus stops with transport fears hiked beyond expectation, many car engines have been damaged as a result of purchasing this contaminating product.
“This regrettable circumstance which has embarrassingly put many Nigerians in unfortunate predicaments should be blamed on President Buhari who doubles as the Minister for Petroleum.
“We in the Movement for a Socialist Alternative MSA condemned this act of negligence by the federal government and the Minister for Petroleum Resources headed by President Muhammadu Buhari and the agencies of the FG responsible for the importation of petrol.
”Importation of fuel contaminated with a high amount of methanol is cruel but we see it as a ploy by the capitalist merchants to further increase their profits and as well use it as a tactic to test the mood of Nigerians to see how the masses will react.
“The failure of the Buhari regime to fix any of the four refineries in the country and the regime’s continuous dependence on the importation of fuel for its citizen consumption have now made the country a dumping ground for adulterated petroleum products.
“The non-challant attitude of the corrupt ruling elites, t act of carelessness will likely lead to the beginning importation of fake petrol into the country just like every other fake and adulterated product imported into the country without any consequences to the importer or the compromised agencies.
“One of the campaign promises of President Buhari in 2015 is to revamp Nigeria’s four refineries to optimum capacity to scale down the rate of importation of refined petroleum products into the country. But to date in 2022, which is about 7 years into the administration, Nigeria remains the only member country in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting countries (OPEC) that still imports petrol.
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as a sole importer of this product into the country has many of its activities shrouded in secrecy including the figures of daily fuel consumption.
“The operations of the NNPC have been corrupted so that the sector has been a cash cow to many politicians and as the 2023 election gets closer, the capitalist ruling elites as usual will device any means to acquire resources to fund their (re)election into office.
“We in the MSA will like to use this opportunity to call on the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC, and the Trade Union Congress TUC, to revisit its suspended national protest to not only resist the planned increase of fuel price but to also challenge the corrupt practice around fuel importation as well as demand for refining of petroleum product in the country for the consumption by the Nigerian people.
“The labour unions should be bold enough to call a 48-hour general strike to show their opposition to the planned hike in petrol price and deregulation of the oil sector.”