CONDOLENCE
Congress joins all Nigerians to condole with hundreds of victims of the recent unacceptable criminal serial tanker explosions through the country. NLC however demands that governance preventive measures through urgent revival of domestic refineries, railway and road transportation infrastructure, enforcement of road/driving rules are the panacea to the unacceptable killing of innocent Nigerians without official declaration of war. Tankers’ explosions had unacceptably taken lives just as many as Boko haram insurgency does in recent times. Indeed what we have at hand were not “accidents” but avoidable incidents due to lack of good governance with respect to the mismanaged petroleum down stream sub-sector.

FIX THE REFINERIES
We must urgently reinvent the refineries and put an end to shameful explosion-prone petroleum products importation. We must return to the era in which petroleum products were moved from refineries through protected pipelines to deports at short distances which put less burden on drivers and no risk at all on communities.

It is bad that we import petroleum products. However it is worse that Nigeria moves highly inflammable products, (which are indeed mobile bombs!), through hundreds of bad roads. It is a peculiar Nigerian underdevelopment that must stop with the new administration of President Muhammed Buhari.

DO NOT PRIVATIZE, FIX RAILWAY
Rail transportation remains one of the cheapest and safest inter-city means of transportation of products and humans. Buhari and Osibanjo presidency must hit the ground running and deepen the ongoing revival of the railways through public investment. The solution is not in privatizing the railways. You don’t privatize what is yet to be built. President Buhari must avoid the pitfall of dogmatic privatization that does not add value to national well being whatsoever but enriches few individuals. Nigerian railway still runs on narrow gauge with the maximum of between 25 – 35 km per hour unlike standard gauge and high speed trains in China. Nigeria Railway requires massive injection of funds to upgrade its tracks to standard gauge and modernize the wagon and haulage facilities. If fixed, Railways can also absorb hundreds of thousands of jobs for the millions of unemployed youths under the Buhari dispensation.

FIX THE BAD ROADS
A country that proudly shares excess crude receipts among all tires of government should certainly spend this excess to fix the bad roads.

COMPENSATE THE VICTIMS
As a matter of right, not favour or charity, NLC demands that government must urgently compensate all the victims of these avoidable carnage either in Onitsha or Lagos.

Signed
Issa Aremu, mni
Deputy President, NLC
General Secretary, Textile Workers’ Union