Main opposition party backs labour unions on fuel strike

The party also hailed the Governors of ACN states ‘for their courage in standing on the side of the people and labour, in their quest to get the government to rescind its decision to remove fuel subsidy’.

In a televised broadcast on Saturday evening, President Goodluck Jonathan made a last-ditch effort to seek Nigerians’ understanding for his administration’s decision and possibly avert the strike.

He also announced a 25% cut in the basic salaries of all public office holders, a reduction in foreign travels and other measures aimed at cutting the cost of governance.

But the opposition party was not impressed, saying President Jonathan’s televised speech only succeeded in deepening the people’s mistrust of the administration, as it failed to address the pertinent issues.

ACN said the ‘deficit of trust between the Jonathan administration and the Nigerian people is the main reason why the people did not take the President’s speech seriously, as shown in Organized Labour’s response that the strike due to start on Monday will go ahead in spite of the speech’.

It recalled that while the President promised to consult with all stakeholders across the country and collate their views before taking a decision on the fuel subsidy issue, probably in April, he rather decided to ambush Nigerians and ruin their New Year celebrations by rushing to withdraw the subsidy after just one stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos.

‘If the President did not stand by his earlier promise to Nigerians on this issue, why should they believe him now to do all that he has promised in his speech?’ the party queried.

It described as ‘a mere tokenism’ the sacrifices by the government, which the President reeled out in his speech.

‘The President must tell Nigerians what 25% of basic salaries of public office holders amount to, and what impact this will have in a government suffused with incredible profligacy. We will also like to know the allowances and other perks that these officials receive, which is the core issue.

‘We recall that when the stakeholders’ meeting was held in Lagos, government officials who attended were ferried to Lagos in four different private jets. So who is fooling who about cutting the cost of governance. In any case, the recurrent vote in this year’s budget is a high 74 per cent, compared to 26% for capital. How will the tokenism announced by the President reduce this?

‘The truth is that a government that has budgeted 2.3 billion in just a little over two years, including 1 billion naira in 2012 alone, for feeding the presidency alone cannot be serious about cutting cost or engaging in shared sacrifice. This sacrifice is one-sided, and it is being borne by the people of Nigeria while the government engages in Arabian-style opulence,’
the party said.

On other measures like provision of buses and completion of railway lines, ACN said the President was merely putting the cart before the horse by removing subsidy first.

‘We had called for safety nets to be provided by the government if it was bent on removing subsidy. We had called for massive infrastructural development, including roads and alternative means of transport like the waterways and the railways. We had asked the government to repair existing refineries and build modular ones.

‘The government ignored all this, only to now be talking about some ill-thought-out mass transit programme. Even if all the 1,600 buses to be procured by the government are deployed to Lagos, on what roads will they be driven? What impact can they have in a state with a population in excess of 15 million?’ it said.

ACN said the best way President Jonathan can show that he feels the pain of his compatriots ‘is to admit that his administration made a mistake in rushing to withdraw fuel subsidy and reverting to the old price, adding that cheap tactics to break the ranks of labour or send the police after protesters will not work’.

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