Daily Independent Online.
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Monday, June 14, 2004.
Workers celebrate success of strike in Enugu
By Chukwudi Achife
Bureau Chief, Enugu
Labour leaders and civil servants in
Enugu State are in ecstatic mood over the success in the state of
the recent nation wide strike by
the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over increases in the prices of petroleum products.
The workers told Daily Independent that they were surprised that the
strike turned out to be a “resounding success” in the state despite
the negative efforts of fifth columnists believed to be serving the interests
of the government.
Such saboteurs, they pointed out, had been
responsible for the failure of previous actions in the state much to the
embarrassment of the labour leadership, which had been consistently accused by
workers of having sold out to the government.
The success of the strike, the workers said, was a
clear indication that they had thrown off the yoke of repression, which had all
but rendered the labour movement in the state moribund in the past.
They remarked that the labour leaders from the state
had before the strike been the subject of ridicule among their colleagues from
other states due to their inability to enforce previous strikes called by the
NLC in the state.
“We have now arrived and we have shown that we
are no longer prepared to allow anybody to prevent us from joining our comrades
to pursue and protect the interest of workers and the poor masses of our state
and Nigeria in general,” one labour leader said.
Chairman of NLC in the state confirmed the success of
the strike in a chat with newsmen last weekend and lauded the courage and
commitment of the workers to the action.
The workers had surprised Enugu residents when they
shut down most federal and state offices, ignoring the usual threats of
sanction.
Top government officials had also
uncharacteristically stayed away from their offices and the few who dared to
visit, including permanent secretaries and commissioners, were locked out.
Meanwhile, at least two filling stations belonging to
independent oil marketers have been shut down in Enugu for refusing to revert
to the pre-strike prices for petroleum products.
The Zonal Operations Officer of the Department of
Petroleum Resources, Mr Duncan Eradire, who disclosed this last weekend, said
the department’s enforcement team was still going round to ensure compliance,
stressing that a similar fate awaits other marketers that may be caught selling
above the approved prices.
