LASG Kicks Against Payment of Alleged N224 Million Debt to NUPENG

Lawmakers Describe NUPENG As Irresponsible Over N621bn Diversion

The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said it would not succumb to what it described as blackmail attempts by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to make it pay a questionable N224 million debt.

This is coming in reaction to a purported protest by members of the association over what they said was a N224 million payment for the supply of diesel and kerosene to the Lagos State Government for execution of direct labour projects in Ojodu between October 2014 and May 2015.

The government said that, while it was not against peaceful protest by aggrieved citizens, it would not be stampeded into taking any action without strictly following due process and rule of law.

South-West Chairman of NUPENG, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, had threatened that members of the association would embark on the protest with over 1,000 tankers, and that Lagosians would be subjected to experience scarcity of fuel if the request was not granted by government.

But in a statement signed on Tuesday by the State’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, the government recalled that the said transaction took place between an independent marketer and the Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC) before this present government assumed office.

Ayorinde said the company wrote the government about the transaction, and government replied that it wanted to investigate the claim.

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