The National President of Heavy Duty Truck Drivers Association, Mr Uche Nebuwa, has said repair of the country’s refineries and not palliative is the sure remedy for fuel subsidy removal.
Nebuwa described the hike in prices of fuel as a big problem to operators in the transportation industry and the society at large.
The transporter, spoke during the inauguration of Uzoeghelu General Motor Park, at Ugwu Nwasike/Nkwo Market, along Old Onitsha-Enugu Road, Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra.
He said, “No palliatives will solve this issue of hike in fuel pump price except the old refineries are repaired.
“Fuel hike is a very big problem to us transporters; President Bola Tinubu should have consulted us before the removal of the fuel subsidy.
“The alleged distribution of solar lights as palliatives would not have any positive effect on Nigerians. It will not work as everybody is crying and it has also caused more harm than good to the present socio-political and economic quagmire that we are trying to set ourselves free from,” he said.
The Zonal Chairman, Southeast National Union of Road Transport Workers, Mr Augustine Udeozor, said the hike in fuel had become “a general disease that can only be cured by the Federal Government, because the masses are suffering.
“Something should be done immediately to alleviate the suffering imposed on us in the name of making effort to rectify the socio-economic and political quagmire,” he said.