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| NLC President labour to call out their members on an indefinite strike |
The Nigeria Labour
Congress, NLC, and its affiliates, include the Trade Union Congress, TUC, on
Saturday gave the federal government a 96-hour ultimatum to rescind the
deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry and revert to
the old petrol price of ₦86.50 per litre or face a total shutdown of the economy
from Wednesday.
Media
report continues:
The
NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said if the government failed to accede to their
demands by midnight Tuesday, the workers would have no option than to call out
their members on an indefinite strike.
Although
the National Executive Councils of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff
Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, and National Union of Petroleum and Natural
Gas Workers, NUPENG, on Friday resolved to support the government, Mr. Wabba
said the ultimatum to the government was the collective resolution of the NECs
of the various affiliate unions and civil society groups.
“Since
there has not been any increase in salaries, wages or pensions of workers in
the past five years, and in the face of devaluations, spiraling inflation and
other vagaries of the economy, the increase in fuel price is unrealistic,
unaffordable, unacceptable, and is thus rejected,” Mr. Wabba declared.
“It
is evident that the neo-liberal forces in the government have taken over, and
we should expect more inhumane policies which will further degrade the living
standard of the average Nigerian. The punitive electricity tariff and PMS
product prices may just be teasers,” he added.
He
accused the government of lack of interest to consult on issues of public
interest and its obsession with the protection of fuel marketers at the expense
of the public, saying with these polices President Muhammadu Buhari betrayed
his electioneering promises not to remove fuel subsidy.
Mr.
Wabba described the removal of fuel subsidy as “not only ultra vires and
illegal, but also a criminal imposition on the citizenry” considering that the
board of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), which is
statutorily vested with powers to recommend prices, has not been reconstituted.
“The
price hike from ₦86:50 to ₦145, representing 67.63% increase, is the height of
insensitivity and impunity as there was no previous consultation with stake
holders, especially the organized labour, or any justification for this
reckless decision other than the fact that government believes it is
accountable to no one,” he said.
On
the declaration by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu,
that marketers would henceforth source their dollars from the secondary market
for importation of petroleum products, the NLC president said resultant
pressure on the dollar would lead to unimaginable rise in prices of commodities
and other services, therefore us creating further hardship for the people.
Consequently,
Mr. Wabba called on the government to, among other demands, consider the petrol
price hike as a betrayal of trust and revert to the old fuel price regime of ₦86.50 per litre to reduce the suffering of the people; revert to the pre-45
per cent electricity tariff increase and make meters available to consumers and
stop estimated billing.
Besides,
he called for the boards of PPPRA and the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC to be reconstituted without further delay and give them their
statutory right to function alongside the Department of Petroleum Resources,
DPR to deepen consultation process as well as checks and balances in the
downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
Other
demands included intensifying the prosecution of all those involved in fuel
subsidy scams to recovery and sanctioning those culpable; put in place enhanced
local refining capacity within a specified period to stop endless importation
of products as an enduring solution to the perennial problem of fuel scarcity.
The
NLC also demanded the reversal of the entire deregulation and privatization
process, to allow the constitutional provision of government as the driver of
the economy to prevail, while organized labour would be engaged in the
negotiation on key policy issues.
Mr.
Wabba warned that if the government failed to accede to their demands on or
before 12 midnight on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, the NLC, TUC and their civil
society allies would mobilize Nigerians to the streets across the country to
commence indefinite nationwide strike starting next Wednesday to protest the
decision.
During the period, he said all banks, sea and airports, government and private offices as well as markets across the country would be closed, urging Nigerians to stock sufficient food items that would last throughout the period of the protest.
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