NLC Protests Rock Ibadan, Oyo State (Photos)

Photos coming in from Ibadan show that the NLC strike scheduled for today is holding, despite the pulling out of a faction of the NLC (Nigerian Labour Conference) from the strike.

With the current action by the Niger Delta Avengers and the onset of strike action by a faction of the NLC, the economy, which is already in limbo is facing added pressure.

The NLC wants the government to cancel its deregulation of the price of fuel because it says that will increase hardship for the majority of Nigerians. People have also said that the Federal Government needed to have put palliative measures on ground to give Nigerians a soft landing.

Still, it is believed that the need for a high fuel price of N145 per litre would have been unnecessary if the Federal Government had  legalized the teeming ‘illegal’ refineries operating in the South South and South East of Nigeria, as these refineries, if left to operate freely can supply a good amount of the fuel Nigerians need.

Those refineries would make it unnecessary for fuel to be imported. Currently, the Federal Government has to spend billions of Naira paying marketers to import fuel when there are refineries like these in the country.

All that is needed to get these refineries to work is licencing and quality supervision. The so-called ‘illegal’ refiners already know the techniques. All the government would need to do is to regulate them to stop any dishonest ones from cutting corners, and a new sector in the economy would grow.

In advanced economies like the United States, entrepreneurs are given all the encouragement they need. They get access to loans at great interest rates, subsidies, and before you know it, an economic boom is born. People get rich, new companies are created, new jobs come on board, companies rent new offices, support businesses gather around these companies and the economy grows while the government is relieved of great pressure.

But over here, government entities don’t want the pressure of the people but won’t give the people enough  bread to satisfy them.