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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Champion
Proposed fuel strike:
Govt can�t
stop NLC this time � Oshiomhole �TUC, NUPENG, NANS mobilise ABIODUN ADELAJA, AS the countdown to next Wednesday�s expiration of the
ultimatum for a nation-wide strike begins, President of Nigeria Labour Congress
(NLC), Adams Oshiomhole, has vowed to quit Labour leadership should government
get the upper hand in the current struggle to revert fuel prices to their previous
levels before the latest hike. Oshiomhole also said no last minute
invitation by government for a meeting would stop this strike. To give teeth to the looming action, the
National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has directed
petroleum tanker drivers to stop loading fuel from midnight of next Tuesday
June 8, should government fail to revert to the former fuel rates. Support for the planned industrial action
widened as senior staff under their umbrella union, Trade Union Congress (TUC),
threw their weight behind the move saying they would stay at home from
Wednesday. Palpable anger over the hike in fuel prices
again manifested in Abuja where a coalition of National Leaders, an amalgam of
over 15 youth groups in the country, called for the immediate removal of the
Group Managing Director (GMD) of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC), Mr. Funso Kupolokun. The group alleged that there is a plan from
within the corporation to raise the price of a litre of petrol to N150 through
a phased process. Speaking with Daily Champion in the
lobby of the 12-storey "Labour House," "Look, I won�t preside over a group
that would continue to fall to the antics of those who think the affairs of
millions of people could only be run on the basis of an individual opinion. "The issue at hand has nothing to do
with reduction in the hike, but total reversal. I will be ready to go than be
allowed to be fooled again," Oshiomhole said. Earlier, the NLC President urged Nigerians
to defend their collective interest and insist on an accountable and responsive
government that respects the rule of law and the wishes of the citizenry whose
mandate it claims to exercise. Labour, he said, would be ready to provide
the required leadership, on the platform of which other interest groups could operate
to jointly ensure a reversal of the price hike situation. Oshiomhole said Labour long foresaw that the
government would continue to hike fuel prices and that was why it opposed the
deregulation of the downstream oil sector right from the outset, adding that
government could not now turn around and say the fate of Nigerians would be
decided by the vagaries of the international oil market. �This is the consequence of the
import-driven deregulation; a government that has no control over the exchange
rate, a government that has no control over the price of her crude, it has no
control over everything in addition to the hyper-runaway inflation. "We said it and now that the ugly side
of the deregulation is here, government must find a way out. After all, five
years are enough for a new refinery to come on stream, let alone repairing the
existing ones," Oshiomhole added. Similar war drums are being beaten by NUPENG
whose national President Mr. Peter Akpatason, told Daily Champion that
the union had already directed its critical branch, the Petroleum Tanker
Drivers (PTD) division not to load fuel from next Wednesday. He decried government�s non-chalance at the
state of disrepair of the refineries, saying leaving an impoverished citizenry
to the whims of international oil rates was wicked and must be fought. Addressing newsmen yesterday in The group who spoke through its leader,
Comrade Ben Duntoye said that investigations had revealed that there were plans
to increase fuel prices to N150 per litre through a phased process, calling on
the citizenry to reject the planned increment. Lashing out at members of the National
Assembly for alleged complicity in the scheming, the group said it was sad that
the lawmakers chose to go on recess at "this period of national
emergency." The group warned that the recent increment,
if not promptly reversed, has potent dangers for the survival of the country as
the polity is already suffused by mass frustration, hunger and poverty. Meanwhile, leadership of the National
Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has endorsed the seven-day ultimatum
given by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to the Federal Government to revert
to pre-May prices of petroleum products. NANS said it has a subsisting 15-day
ultimatum to government to revert to the former prices or face a nationwide
strike action. According to Omooba Ayoola Adekunle,
chairman, NANS Directorate of Action and Mobilisation, the students
would at the expiration of the 15 days ultimatum join the NLC fully in the mass
action to force down products prices. Rising from their National Executive Council
(NEC) meeting held under the auspices of TUC in Briefing newsmen at the end of the NEC
meeting, President-General of TUC, Mrs. Peace Obiajulu, stated that the senior
staff were joining forces with the NLC and civil society groups to prosecute
the strike. A three-page communique read out by her
indicated that the TUC would sustain the strike until a total reversal to the
old fuel rates. "In the event that the government and
all relevant agencies neglect or refuse to correct these anomalies, or take
urgent measures to address them, TUC hereby directs all its affiliates,
associates, partners in all states of the federation, including Mrs. Obiajulu warned of moves from
government quarters to create division in the labour movement so as to
frustrate the strike, saying "on this issue, our wall will remain intact,
this is a collective fight and it is in the national interest; Nigerians are
dying and we can�t afford to have more deaths with the new prices."
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