…Flays Energy Stakeholders For Politicising Petrol Subsidy Policy
President of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), Comrade Makolo Hassan has accused the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun of ignoring a Presidential directive instructing the payment of 50 percent withheld salaries of the union members.
Recall that following a protest by NASU over the non payment of their four months withheld salaries when they joined an indefinite strike organised by ASUU.
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The President, Bola Tinubu had while approving a N70,000 minimum wage for workers in the country, directed the Finance Minister to deploy resources and pay at least 50%(two months) out of the four months owed.
But four months after the presidential directive, precisely July 2024, NASU has called out the federal authorities for ignoring it.
Comrade Hassan raised this concerns on Wednesday, while welcoming delegates to the 2024 National Executive Council meeting of NASU.
According to NASU, “As this NEC meeting holds, the Federal Government has refused to resolve the issue of the 4 months unpaid salaries of NASU members in the universities and inter-University centres despite the fact that we have been informed that the President has directed that 50% of the unpaid salary i.e 2 months be paid.
“We are reliably informed that the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr Wale Edun is the one sitting on the directive of Mr President on this matter.
” NASU will therefore like to use this forum to appeal to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy to ensure that the presidential directive on this matter is implemented to avert further industrial crisis in our universities”.
Commenting on the controversies trailing the fuel subsidy removal and its resultant effect on the economy, Makolo decried the constraints associated with refining the product locally in Nigeria despite having the commodity in abundance.
He said with the claims and counter claims coming from the NNPCL and government sources, the sector is obviously being politicised, placing a heavy burden on the economy and consumers alike.
Makolo said, “increases in the prices of petroleum products is significantly influenced by the non-functional state of government refineries, which has left the country heavily reliant on fuel imports despite being a major oil producer.
” The lack of domestic refining capacity forces the government and marketers to import refined products at international prices, which are subject to fluctuations and market violatility. This situation has placed a heavy burden on the economy and consumers alike, as well as politicising the petrol subsidy dispute.
“Dangote refinery, which was anticipated to alleviate some of these challenges, faces complexities of navigating Nigeria’s regulatory and petroleum cabal landscape.
“Although it holds the promise of reducing dependency on imports and stabilising prices in the long run, the combination of these challenges and the absence of functional government refineries continues to worsen the current high cost of petroleum”.
