The House of Representatives, has reassured that the long queues at filling stations in the country, will soon fizzle out soon.

Rep. Ikenga Ugochinyere, Chairman, Petroleum Downstream said this at a joint news conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

“We hereby express our concerns over the temporary presence of fuel queues in petrol stations across the country.

“However, we are convinced that this is temporary based on our investigation, and in a couple of days, we shall get over it,” he said.
Flanked by Rep. Henry Okojie, the Chairman, Petroleum Midstream, Ugochinyere said that investigations had revealed that the scarcity was artificial.
“We have discovered that there is availability of petrol products. We have it on good authority that we have in our storage facilities at least, about 1.5 billion liters of petrol,” he said.

He said that 1.5 billion liters can last for 30 days.

“We have gotten assurances from the regulators in the distribution value chain that these bottlenecks have been cleared. In the course of this public holiday, more grounds will be covered.

“From our findings, the issues that necessitated the disruptions that led to the appearance of fuel queues in petrol stations have been cleared.

They said that it would take a few more days for things to return to normalcy, while calling on Nigerians not to panic over this development.

“We have gotten assurances from the regulators and the unions that these challenges will be cleared in a few days,” he said.
Ugochinyere added: “It will require more time, like two to three days, for products to be distributed to all stations nationwide.

“As a committee that is charged with downstream and midstream oversight, we have been monitoring this development.”

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Borno State chapter, has said that some retirees in the state were still being paid N4,000 monthly as pension.

The NLC Chairman, Mr Yusuf Inuwa, said this in an address to mark the 2024 May Day celebration, on Wednesday in Maiduguri.

He advocated for upward review of the pension to improve the social and economic wellbeing of retirees.

“Your Excellency, we wish to table before you that as at this moment there are some pensioners who are still receiving N4,000 as pension per month which is grossly inadequate.

“We, therefore, pray for His Excellency intervention for upward review of the monthly pension”, Inuwa pleaded.

He also called for the implementation of the national minimum wage, payment of outstanding leave and transport grants to local government employees in the state.

The NLC chairman, who noted the commitment of the workers towards the transformation agenda of the state government, lauded the Babagana Zulum’s administration for the feat achieved in the area of workers’ welfare.

He listed some of the achievements to include implementation of promotion benefits to workers in the mainstream, payment of gratuities to families of deceased workers, and provision of subsidised buses for workers and members of the public.

Also, the State Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Babayo Hamma, urged the state government to adopt the minimum wage aporoved by the Federal Government.

The state deputy governor, Alhaji Umar Kadafur, lauded the harmonious relationship between labour and the state government.

Kadafur who listed some of the training opportunities provided for the workers including the N2 billion free interest facility, reiterated government to the welfare and training of workers.

Also, Prof. Ibrahim Umara of Political Science Department, University of Maiduguri, who highlighted the theme of this year’s May Day, “The People First”, called for proactive active measures to address energy crisis in the country.

He urged government to adopt siund policies that would enabled the Dangote Refinery,  to supply fuel at a subsidised rate to service local consumption.