Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned the Senate not to acquiesce to the proposal by President Olusegun Obasanjo to reduce the amount of money earmarked as fuel subsidy in the 2007 budget, saying that if the reduction was allowed, it might spark off another round of crises ahead of the 2007 general elections.
President of the NLC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole issued the warning yesterday in Abuja during his follow-up consultative talks with the Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani in the latter�s office at the National Assembly over the issue even as he assured that Nigerians would not accept a hike in prices of petroleum products as a parting gift from the outgoing government of President Obasanjo. He said that the fight over the years has been whether or not government should subsidise, explaining “non-subsidy in terms of price in relation to cost, but subsidy in terms of domestic prices in relation to international prices”.
According to him, “It is clear that if the subsidy ratio is reduced and the current prices in the international market are sustained, the possibility is clear that prices will then go up in the New Year”. Oshiomhole said that the Senate should also do more on the issue of kerosene to avert crisis in that area, stressing, “The second point we are making is that kerosene has been excluded, as well as diesel, whereas all the petroleum products ought to be covered”. “If you look at the language of the Appropriation Act, in which this subsidy was provided for in the 2006 budget, all these items ought to have been covered.
“We are saying that they should not only sustain the freeze in prices next year, they should also bring in kerosene, in particular, because it is actualize scandalous that we are subjecting our rural people to pay a price for kerosene that obviously is compelling the great majority of our people in the rural area to resort back to the use of firewood for cooking”, he stated.
The NLC President said further that given the very serious environmental crises, whether soil erosion or desert encroachment, afflicting parts of the country, “I think the country is being penny wise and pound foolish by forcing rural people and the urban poor to return to the use of firewood because rural people cannot cough out N200 to pay for a litre of kerosene”. He said this was compounding rural poverty and aggravating the pains of the majority of our people, stressing that the point at issue was quite straight. According to him, “I think the thing is quite straight that happily, the National Assembly has the power to appropriate far much more than the Executive had requested because like we said, it is inconceivable that Nigerians will not accept a price hike as a goodbye present from the outgoing government nor will they accept a new government giving them a hike in prices as their first welcome gift. “So, either as a goodbye or welcome gift, it will be inappropriate and we do not want anything that will create tension in 2007”. Senate President, Senator Nnamani thanked the NLC president for his visit, saying that labour movement worldwide was important in democracy and assured that the National Assembly would look at the budget in the light of the congress’ request. Saying that the budget is National Assembly’s budget, while the President only sends estimates, he declared “Any government that does not listen attentively to the labour movement would probably run the risk of either being accused of impunity or being a little bit out of tune. So, I believe very strongly that labour a times or most times do point out areas which government may overlook and therefore it is always necessary for authorities to listen to the comments from the labour”. He assured that the point he raised about the Trade Union Bill that required amendment, particularly to take into cognizance the responsibilities rights and privileges of workers “whether they should go on strike or not and some categories of workers who are being exempted or who might be criminalized if they go on strike, I would like to point out that no bill is so excellent that it does not require amendments”. The Senate President said that the Senate would route the NLC�s request for amendments through the normal process, adding that “we would see if can expedite that and look at the issues you raised. In fact, we may have the need again to subject it to public comments so that other people will participate and bring their own expertise to bear on the bill”. He also said that should there be a need for removal of subsidy on petroleum products and adjustments in the price mechanisms, “the timing whether the outgoing government is going to make it its parting gift to Nigerians if we do not make it affordable by a majority of Nigerians or as a welcome gift by the incoming government, it is a very serious issue and I am sure that government cannot pretend not to know the implications of all these. “We will take a look at these in terms of appropriation. If money is not appropriated adequately for them to take care of the price imbalances, the problem will be that there will be another round of crisis”. Responding to question from journalists after the meeting, on why he was just coming now to meet with the Senate President on the proposed reduction in fuel subsidy, Oshiomhole said, “Like I told the Senate President, we wrote immediately in black and white to him (Senate President) and the Speaker of the House of Representatives warning of the danger of not maintaining the subsidies. “We did that promptly. So all I have done today (yesterday) is to further speak to it. Already, he (Senate President) has in his file the letter from the NLC. In addition to writing to the President of the Senate and the Speaker, we also wrote to the chairpersons of the Senate Committee on Appropriation and the House Committee on Appropriation. “In an interactive forum three weeks ago at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, we also raised this issue. Maybe, this is the first time we are raising the issue formally in this particular manner, but we have been on it because we do not just want any excuse. “If there is a slip and they pass the budget without it, obviously, Nigerians will be returning to those ugly days festering vice and that has to be avoided”. Asked why he did not put up a representation at the Committee hearing when the Bill to bring up so many trade unions as well as barring some unions in the aviation sector from going on strike was being considered, the NLC president said the congress did. According to him, “We pointed out our the clauses and we had argued in black and white as well as in our oral presentation here that this National Assembly cannot take away the rights which even previous military government conceded, namely, the right to picketing”. He said, “We argued all of that and some of our arguments, like I told the Senate President, were taken on board but some were not considered and so the law was passed; we were happy that the law benefited from some of our comments, but we also pointed out that there were some important areas that our comments were ignored that constitute a violation. “So, what we then did consequently was to take the matter to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Nigeria is a member of the Governing Body of the ILO, both the Nigerian government, the NLC and the employers. So the tripod is well represented there”. He continued: “So, we took the matter to that court and they looked at the law and they looked at the provision of the Convention and they were unanimous that denying Aviation workers the rights to strike with the exemption of Air Traffic Controllers constitute a breach. “Also, criminalizing picketing constitutes a breach; excluding worker, this one was not brought in by this government; it was brought in by the military; the military outlawed the rights of� deregistered the National Union of Custom and Excise, Immigration, etc. “This was done under General Ibrahim Babangida and Brigadier John Shagaya was then the Minister of Internal Affairs. He got that union deregistered, but we thought that like other wrongdoings perpetrated by the military, that the new democratic government will restore those rights”. According to him, “Unfortunately, the amendments to the Trade Union Bill did not address those concerns. So we have been raising those issues. The only thing that is new is that if the National Assembly and the President were of the view that our criticisms were not valid, now with the ILO interpretation, which is the United Nations authority on labour-related matters, it is now no question that we were right”. He said that also contained in the letter to the Senate was that ILO found that the attempt by the amendment by the Obasanjo government to “deny us the right to protest on social economic policies which we consider injurious to workers, ILO upheld the fact that workers have the right to go on strike to protest socio-economic policies that are inimical to public welfare. “One of the issues that the Federal Government took us to court during those crises periods was that we had no to go on strike on a non-wage issue; so, subsequently in the amendment, they specifically tried to say we can only go on strike on dispute arising from terms and conditions of service and we were saying they were wrong to reduce the workers to simply a waste taker without appreciating that the worker is a full citizen with all socio-economic and political rights. “The ILO now ruled that workers have the right to go on strike on non-wage issue, non-work place issues like socio-economic policies; for instance, the issue of fuel price because that was the thing on the mind of government when it said we can go on strike”. Oshiomhole said that the country could not talk of democracy if the citizens were caged one way or the other, adding, “You have to ask yourself as an aggrieved individual, what can you do to be heard by a President as powerful as a Nigerian President, one of the most powerful in the world, so where is the entry space for the ordinary Nigerian to protect himself in the face of an angry president or a president decides not want to listen? “So you need the number to organize, which is where the strikes come in and once you outlaw strikes, you reduce us to mushrooms and there is nothing we can do and if citizens are helpless in the face of a bad policy, then we really cannot talk of democracy”.
Dec62006