• Energy efficiency, management central to nation-building, said Abubakar, Aregbesola
A mass labour and political movement, The People’s Alternative Political Movement (TPAP-M), has urged Nigerians to resist the continued fuel scarcity and coincidental erratic power supply plaguing the country.
The group also demanded prosecution and punishment of those responsible for the importation of the bad fuel, which had plunged the country into chaos for weeks.
These were parts of the resolutions of the public meeting on the #ResistHardship Campaign of the group and its allies held via zoom yesterday.
TPAP-M, in a communique signed by Prof. Omotoye Olorode and Taye Gaskia, which was made available to The Guardian in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, urged Nigerians to reject the continued energy crisis and demand immediate restoration of fuel prices to the pre-crisis level and electricity to pre-September 2019 rates.
TPAP-M said: “We call on citizens and residents in their various localities, villages, communities, neighbourhoods, towns and cities to reject and organise themselves to resist the continued fuel scarcity, demand that fuel be immediately made available at the pre-crisis price, demand that electricity tariff be restored to pre-September 2019 rate and demand for stability and availability in the supply of electricity.
“Citizens and residents should further organise themselves to take collective action in their respective areas to achieve these demands.
Besides, the group also expressed its support for the ongoing strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), saying: “We express our active solidarity with ASUU and call on it to pursue the strike as an active strike by reaching out directly to citizens, students, parents and other actors in education and society to build solidarity and support for the strike and implementation of the demands.
“We wish to underscore the fact that the crisis in education is deep-rooted, far-reaching and all-encompassing and as such, we reiterate our position on the urgent necessity for the establishment of a broad-based Safe Education Front.”
SIMILARLY, a former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar (rtd) and the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola yesterday said that energy efficiency and energy management were central to nation-building and development.
The duo stated this during the launch of a book titled, “Dimension of Energy Poverty and Rural Electrification in Nigeria”, written by an energy economist and expert, Dr. Yunus Akintunde, to mark his 60th birthday at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Abubakar, who was the chairman on the occasion, represented by Ambassador Asimiyu Olaniyi, lamented that the fact Nigeria and Africa still groped under-development, is a sign of energy poverty prevalent on the continent.
On his part, Aregbesola lamented that most of Nigerian systems are still dependent on petrol and diesel driving demand crazily for them, with the attendant consequences.
