A civil society organisation, The Osun Masterminds, TOM, has urged the Osun State Government to shut down schools in the state for a few weeks due to the effects of the current fuel scarcity.
The measure, the group maintained, is to ameliorate the untold suffering faced by children and parents.
This formed part of the group’s recommendations in the April State of the State address by its Executive Director, Prof Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli on Tuesday in Osogbo.
The group while demanding that the Federal Government act immediately to solve all the problems pertaining to epileptic power supply and fuel scarcity, lamented that Nigerians were currently going through untold hardships.
According to TOM, “We cannot be living like slaves in our own country, under a democratic governance.
“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.
“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.”
The group also called for the sack of the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu.
According to the group, Adelabu’s insistence on classification of users in different bands is as absurd and ridiculous.
They also demanded that if sacking any government official was the way to solve the situation, such step should be taken immediately.
“If solving the current hardship requires that some government officials be sacked, government must take that decisive action now.
“Use of Electricity is a social contract and every Nigerian irrespective of class should have access to quality and regular supply of electricity. We have come so far as a nation to have overcome those self inflicted pain occasioned by lack of power.”
Lambasting the government for not making any clear statement about the worsening situations across the power and petroleum sectors, the group added that the government’s stance was grossly irresponsible.
“We challenge the Osun State government to rise up and do the needful like Ekiti state and others in facilitating alternative power generation for her citizens. This we belief should be the duty of the Ministry of Energy hitherto redundant in the state.”
