Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has called on the Federal Government and the military to rise up to the task to end insurgency and wanton destruction of lives and properties in the country.
The oil workers’ union also called on the military to live up to their expectations by duly performing their obligations of defending the country against any attack either internal or external.
In a statement issued by PENGASSAN on Wednesday, it decried the level of general insecurity, especially the killings by the Boko Haram insurgents in the North Eastern part of the country and called on President Goodluck Jonathan to step up the political will to deal with the crisis.
Condemning the bomb blast that killed 47 school children and injured 79 others in Potiskum, Yobe state Tuesday, PENGASSAN President, Comrade Francis Johnson, said that the Federal Government should use all the power within its limit to deal with the situation and ensure that Nigeria is a safe place to live.
He noted that attacks on the Northern part of the country and killings of innocent Nigerians had been on the increase and taken a new dimension since the government announced the ceasefire pact with the Boko Haram, adding that the government should bring full force to bear in containing the activities of the sect.
Comrade Johnson, who described the killings of the school children as barbaric, said that since the insurgency started in 2009, many Nigerians have been killed while many more were rendered homeless and turned to refugees in their own country.
He therefore called on the Federal Government to be cautious in her negotiations and discussions with any group or terrorists that have been wreaking havoc on the lives and properties of innocent Nigerians and impacting negatively on the nation’s economy.
The union leader said that the Federal Government should carry out thorough investigations into those who brought the ceasefire arrangements and the involvement of the Chadian government in the so called ‘mediation’ role.
The PENGASSAN President demanded that the Federal Government should equip the military with sophisticated weapons and intelligence gathering equipment that are superior to that of the insurgents, while the military should combat and flush out the insurgents from Nigerian territory.