The Federal Government, has said that the protest by members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Tuesday in which they blocked the busy Lagos-Ibadan expressway was illegal.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, made the comment while speaking to with State House Correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.
The protesting students caused a heavy gridlock as they took over the Sagamu Interchange section of the expressway.
The aggrieved students who deplored the lingering seven-month old industrial action by university lecturers vows to repeat the protest until their demand to end the strike is met.
Fashola said that while the Constitution recognizes the right to peaceful protest, no Nigerian has the right to inflict pain and inconvenience to others.
The Minister who urged the students not to block the road, said blocking it Road itself was a violation of the law.
He said, “I also heard that some aggrieved students under the aegis of NANS are going to the road to protest. My respectful view is that is not helpful at all to the citizens.
“The right to protest is a very well-protected right in our Constitution, but it does not include the right to inflict pain and inconvenience on other people. And so, whilst the protests can go on, they should refrain from blocking the road in order to do their protests. That in itself is a violation of law.”
The minister who also spoke on the traffic jam on ongoing sections of road call for patience from the public.
He explained that there is no alternative route in the already built-up areas.
“Once again, I apologise and empathise with commuters who need that place to get on with their lives. It’s the place we left to the last really because it’s the most built-up area, the last six kilometers into Lagos; very densely populated and occupied. There’s very little room for alternative routes for people. So, you just have to bear with us.” He added
Also, his counterpart in theMinister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, told State House Correspondents that the Old Port Harcourt Refinery would become operational by December this year.
The minister stated further that the development of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is still in progress.
“The rehabilitation of the refineries is ongoing. As we said earlier, the old refinery in Port Harcourt, which is about 60,000 barrels per day capacity, will be functional by December and, of course, we still have some time in the contracting time to conclude the rest of the Port Harcourt Refineries.
“Works in the Kaduna and Warri refineries are also in progressing very well. We will soon be embarking on an inspection visit and some of you journalists will be will be able to go with us to ascertain for yourselves what the extent of work is”, he said.
On the country’s CNG development programme, the Minister disclosed that progress is being made, adding that it is one of the steps that must be achieved before the removal of petrol subsidy.
“On the CNG development, it’s very much in progress. That is part of the promises we made, part of the things we want to put in place before the removal of subsidy. Subsidy has still not been removed because some of these conditions that were agreed upon have not been met and we’re definitely working assiduously to ensure that all the facilities are in place, the pumping stations and the conversion kits.
“I can assure you that work is going on very much in that regard. We may not be in a position to announce exactly what we are doing now or where we are, but I can assure you that work is very much ongoing”, he said.