Tension heightened in the country yesterday, as the organised labour advised Nigerians to stockpile food stuff and other essential basic needs ahead of its planned nationwide strike on Monday.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in a communiqué issued at the end of its separate meetings in Abuja and Lagos, said that the strike would go ahead unless President Goodluck Jonathan reverses the pump price of petrol to its former price of N65 per litre.
NLC after its separate emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, directed Nigerians to start stockpiling essential needs ahead of the indefinite strike, scheduled for take-off on Monday, January 9, 2012; and also hinted that oil production centres, air and sea ports, fuel stations, markets, banks, amongst others will be shut down.
A communique jointly signed by President of NLC, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Comrade Peter Esele added that fuel stations, markets, banks and other public offices would be shut down as from Monday.
Both NLC and TUC noted that the Presidency announced the removal of petroleum subsidy and adjusted upward, the pump price of petrol on 1st January, 2012 even when it claimed it was still consulting Nigerians.
It stated that due to this upward review of prices, the pump price for petrol now sells for between N141 and N200 per litre nation-wide, instead of N65.
And obviously not wanting to be left out of the protests, Nigerians in the UK are also poised for a solidarity protest march to voice their anger and express displeasure against “this insensitive and irresponsible government back home.”
The London Metropolitan Police has permitted Nigerian students living in the United Kingdom to protest against the removal of fuel subsidy tomorrow.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the protest will hold at the ever-busy Charing Cross Underground Station in London by 12:30 pm.
It was also learnt that there have been calls from Nigeria to the organisers to abort the protest given the bad publicity it will generate for the Nigerian government.
Protests have rocked the country for two days now following the removal of fuel subsidy which has led to the increase in price of fuel from N65 a litre to N140 in some towns and even N250 a litre in others. Consequently, there has been a steep rise in prices of goods and services especially transport fares.
Appearing to be rattled by the stiff opposition from home and abroad, especially the stubborn defense that Nigerians are staging against the subsidy removal from fuel price, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday introduced palliative measures to reduce the discomfort and pains the negative effect the deregulation exercise in the downstream sector of oil has inflicted on them.
The President directed all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to pay the monthly salaries of workers in the public sector by January 20 to reduce the harsh effect, just as he ordered the commencement of a mass transit programme that would address the discomfort of Nigerians.
To this effect, the Federal Government has ordered for a first batch of 1,600 diesel run mass transit billed to arrive the country on Monday. Also, the Federal Account and Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting has been scheduled for January 15, 2012 to deliberate on the revenue sharing for the month.
The President who also directed that the lingering debts governments at the various levels are owing contractors should be paid to them with immediate effect, urged for a speedy implementation of the subsidy empowerment programme of the Dr. Christopher Kolade-led Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Prgramme Board.
An unimpressed labour has meanwhile stressed that this prohibitive increase in the price of PMS once again confirms its position that deregulation to this government means incessant price increase of a strategic product (petrol) that impacts on the cost of living, cost of production and the general well-being of increasingly impoverished Nigerians.
“The immediate generalised negative impact of this price increase on transport cost, food, drugs, school fees, rents, indicate that government is totally wrong to underestimate the impact assessment of the so-called deregulation policy,” organised labour noted.
The communique reads in part, “After exhaustive deliberations and consultations with all sections of the populace, the NLC, TUC and their pro-people allies demand that the Presidency immediately reverses fuel prices to N65.
“If the government fails to do so, they direct that indefinite general strikes, mass rallies and street protests be held across the country with effect from Monday 9th January, 2012.
“From that Monday, 9th January 2012 date, all offices, oil production centres, air and sea ports, fuel stations, markets, banks, amongst others will be shut down.
“We advise Nigerians to stockpile basic needs especially food and water.”
The movement also called on Nigerians to participate actively in this movement to rescue the country.
It added that the emphasis is on peaceful protests, rallies and strikes, saying that the masses will not be intimidated by the deployment of security personnel against protesters.
Labour however advised the police, armed forces and other security agencies to reject orders that they turn their weapons on their fellow Nigerians.
“We warn that anybody who does so, will be individually brought to justice. The primary objective of this patriotic call and movement is to revert PMS price to N65, restore normalcy and reclaim Nigeria for Nigerians.”
Meanwhile the President of TUC, Comrade Peter Esele has said that labour would not give chance for any dialogue with Federal Government on the removal of fuel subsidy before the commencement of the strike action.
Speaking at the meeting, Human Rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana told newsmen that Lagos lawyers would join the protests.
Falana said “the battle is a fight to finish,” adding that if any court wants to stop them, they have also organised their own lawyers to fight the cause.
Underscoring Labour’s resolve to embark on a total industrial action starting from Monday, next week, Aviation Trade Unions have said, it will be a total shutdown of the Nigerian airspace.
Already, the aviation unions who have started consultations are meeting in Abuja to determine how the strike would be carried out in the aviation industry.
National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) Acting Secretary, Comrade Abdulkarim Motajo, said the head of the various aviation unions were meeting in Abuja to fine-tune strategies on how the strike would be conducted in the aviation industry.
He however confirmed that there will be a total closure of the Nigerian Airspace when the strike takes off.
He also disclosed the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) has given its solidarity to the Nigerian people as they prepare to fight the increase in fuel price.
Meanwhile, determined to ensure the planned strike action records a 100 percent success, organised labour has continued to mobilise support from all its various unions across the country.
The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Rivers State, for instance, yesterday, began to mobilise their members ahead of the nationwide strike.
In a short message service (SMS) sent to members of the two unions in the state, Chairman of TUC, Comrade Hyginus Chika Onuegbu directed workers to plan, mobilise, and ensure that the strike action was executed strictly.
The SMS read: “Please, take note that nationwide strike by NLC and TUC over the withdrawal of fuel subsidy will commence on Monday, January 9, 2012, in line with the directives of the national executive council (NEC) of TUC and NLC.
“Please, inform all affiliates, executive members and council members to plan and mobilise and ensure that the strike is executed strictly.”
Information Minister, Mr. Labaran Maku who gave hint of government’s palliatives while briefing State House correspondents alongside his Transport and Trade and Investment counterparts, Idris Umar and Olusegun Aganga, respectively, after the FEC meeting at the presidential villa, said the 1, 600 buses formed part of the N10 billion revolving loan set aside by the government to address transport infrastructure in the country. He noted that the revolving loan for the buses is payable over a five-year period and attracts a 5 per cent interest rate under the Urban Mass Transit Programme and would be made available to credible transporters, labour unions and other Nigerians in the transport business.
Maku said, “The meeting was called to deliberate on very crucial national issues, particularly on the deregulation of the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil industry.
Mr. President called the meeting to expedite action on the measures to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy. The President expressed deep seated sympathy and empathy with the citizens particularly over the measures that government has taken in the last couple of days to deregulate the downstream sector of the oil industry.
“Mr. President announced to the Council that already, government has placed orders for massive supply of diesel powered mass transit buses. Conclusions have been reached with both private sector and key stakeholders in the public transport system including the ones that are run directly by the Nigeria Labour Congress as well as the Trade Union Congress, Nigerian Road Transport Workers, NATO, cooperatives and several other established transporters in the federation to ensure that in the next couple of weeks, there will be available in this country, sufficient numbers of mass transit vehicles which will be supplied duty free to transporters. The intervention in the mass transist system is going to be far more comprehensive and sustainable than what has been done in the past.
“Mr. President directed this intervention in mass transportation will go on for two years and government it will sustain the tempo to ensure that by end February this year, we should have achieved significant stabilisation. He has therefore directed the MDAs and the committee chaired by Mr. Vice President to work speedily in the next one week to ensure that all arrangements for the supply of these vehicles and also for the distribution to stakeholders in this sector who are known to be in this business and have the infrastructure to sustain these vehicles are completed.”
Maku regretted that previous administrations had postponed deregulation, saying, “The intended benefits did not come through because for as long as government continues to monopolise the sector, no private sector will come in to invest.”
According to the minister, “Haven taken this plunge (to remove subsidy), to go back will be to cripple the economy, that is why we are calling on our citizens to bear with us. In no time, the prices will come down unlike in the past where marketers used to hoard fuel, because government was subsidising, that would no longer be the case. The customer will be king now, because if they don’t sell, they won’t recover their money,” he explained.
On the strike action declared by NLC, Maku said, “We believe it will be of greater harm to Nigerians for Labour to insist on strike because it will further compound the sufferings of the people, because if we do not support production and continue to support that, one third of the budget be used to support consumption, it will spell doom.”
The minister said, “There is no way a country will survive with N5 trillion debt and uses N500 billion to service debt. The entire capital budget is completely borrowed and if it continues, the economy will collapse and companies will be forced to cut work force.”
On his part, Aganga said, “We have a duty to turn short term pain to long term gains,” adding that, “Government has placed orders for massive supply of decent diesel buses to solve transportation problem. In the next couple of weeks, there will be sufficient mass transit buses. It will go on for two years. Any moment from now, we should take delivery of these buses. As the Federal Executive Council, we are not here to punish Nigerians.
“For the first time, we want to put in place a sustainable robust mass transit programme with loan at five per cent interest rate to be made available to transporters to reduce the pains fellow Nigerians are going through now. We have been undertaking poverty and social impact analysis to see what impact this will have on Nigerians. That is because we realised the pain it will cause and today’s meeting gave us the opportunity to empathise and to know that it was a very painful decision.”
Contributing, Umar said government has completed the dredging of the lower Niger, and assured that the Lagos-Kano-Jebba rail rehabilitation project will be completed by the end of March.
He added that depending on availability of passengers, “Lagos-to-Ilorin rail transport will resume soon.”
Meanwhile, a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Audu Ogbeh has described the removal of fuel subsidy as a bomb that spells doom for the country and its people. Ogbeh who is current Board of Trustees Chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) called on the government to review deregulation and rescind its decision on oil subsidy removal. While lambasting the government for hurriedly removing subsidy without putting palliatives in place, Ogbeh said before removing subsidy, the ideal thing for government to do would have been to strengthen the naira against the dollar, reduce cost of governance, consult widely and trim the structure of government.
Ogbeh declared: “Well, it’s very scary, this fuel subsidy thing has been in the air for years now, and in the last few weeks debate has been going on. But it would appear that the implementation from January 1st was a bit of an ambush; right now, there are hundreds of Nigerians that are stuck in their villages, who earnestly can’t transport themselves back to where they are working across the country. So it came like a bomb and we feared this all along and we said we have to handle this carefully.
“Nigerians don’t trust the government. The president spends N1billion to run the Villa monthly. The president and the governors move in long convoys that gulp billions monthly. The British Prime Minister has just two official cars while the Queen has three.
The US President feeds himself with his salary. President Barrack Obama only uses public funds whenever he organises banquet. The US, as capitalist as it is, does not deregulate everything the way President Goodluck Jonathan is going. Yet, government wants Nigerians to accept removal of subsidy. No they have not seen commitment from the leaders towards salvaging the country. If Jonathan had reduced the cost of governance, it would have made sense asking the ordinary Nigerians to buy into subsidy removal. The way things stand today, if government fails to rescind its decision then the people in the villages and urban centres will suffer the greatest.’’
Ogbeh also posited that the removal of subsidy will compound the bombing and security challenge in the country and wondered why the Federal Government was not mindful of the insecurity in the country.
‘‘The perilous times ushered in by the current economic hardship will deepen poverty; it will further create a fertile ground for the proliferation of explosives and armed robberies. And since the people will be poorer, the anger against government will redouble and I think people will be more indifferent to surveillance,” he stated.