A coalition of Civil Society in Osun State has called on federal and State governments to close down all schools in the country, in a bid to alleviate suffering created by fuel scarcity.
The CSO, under the aegis of The Osun Mastermind, TOM, made the call in Osogbo.
Professor Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, the Executive Director of the group, disclosed the unnecessary fuel scarcity within a short time has unleashed untold hardship on the masses in the state, including school children who just resumed their second term.
His words, “In just a few days of this meaningless fuel scarcity, Nigerians have faced one of the toughest experiences of their lives. Students have had to return home, unable to get to their respective schools due to shortage of public transportation. The economy is getting crippled by the day as workers and informal sector operators are also unable to get to their places of work.
“We recommend the shutting down of schools maybe for a few weeks while this scarcity lasts to avoid the children and their parents suffering unduely”, he said.
He also regretted that while Nigerians are battling with acute fuel shortages, the epileptic power supply complicated the situation for many businesses and families across the country, urging the federal government to put every measures, including sacking of officials involved in sabotaging effort to deliver good governance to Nigerians.
“In the midst of all of these, the power situation in recent times have been the worst Nigerians have experienced in recent history. Yet, government has not made any clear statements about the worsening situations across the power and petroleum industries. This is grossly irresponsible.
“We demand as a group that the Federal government acts immediately to solve all the problems pertaining to epileptic power supply and fuel scarcity, to stop the untold hardship that Nigerians are currently going through. We cannot be living like slaves in our own country, under a democratic governance.
“If solving the current hardship requires that some government officials be sacked, government must take that decisive action now. Government must also immediately tell Nigerians what the state of the Port-Harcourt Refinery is. Promises upon promises have been made to make the Nation’s refineries start work in no distant time, with the added promise that this will crash the price of petroleum products in the country. Nigerians are waiting for the actualization of these promises and must not be made to wait for too long.
“The Federal Government must act responsibly and make good the promises it made on the power and petroleum sectors, failing which Nigerians may be forced to take to the streets to protest the current mismanagement of our critical sectors”, he added.
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