THE Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prosecute those that were accused of “stealing oil subsidy fund”.
Its National President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who sought the prosecution in a statement, warned that “there shall be no selective justice”.
He said: ”In the light of the above, we urge President Muhammadu Buhari to muster the necessary political will by not only opening up the sector to fair competition, but by ensuring diligent prosecution of all the accused.
“We remain convinced that the real solution to the crisis in the sector lies in ensuring that domestic refining is promoted.”
He, however, denied the congress’ involvement in the consultation for the purported plan to remove oil subsidy.
In the statement, titled: “We are not involved”, the congress noted that there was no time that it was consulted for the removal of the subsidy.
Wabba, in the rejoinder to a report in one of the national newspapers (not The Nation), said the NLC recognised that corruption was being perpetrated by government agencies and businessmen in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
The NLC boss noted that to be able to deal with this situation effectively, government must break up this cabal by opening up the downstream sector of the petroleum industry to fair competition.
Wabba said NLC, in January 2012, protested increase in prices of petroleum products. He added that it unravelled illegal activities in the sector and prompted legal proceedings against some culprits.
He said in spite of overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence against the culprits, nothing has been heard about the cases.
The NLC president said the subsidy scam would be an opportunity for government to demonstrate its fight against corruption through diligent prosecution.