LAGOS — LESS than 24 hours to tomorrow’s deadline which the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) gave its state councils to submit their findings about marketers return to pre-fuel tax prices of petroleum products as directed by an Abuja High Court, congress has directed the councils to intensify mobilisation of workers and Nigerians for the next phase of the action as there is growing evidence that marketers have not complied with the court order.
In suspending the nationwide strike called to protest the rising fuel prices on Friday, June 11, the NLC, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Congress of Free Trade Unions of Nigeria (CFTU) and civil society allies had given government and marketers seven days to comply with the court order and had threatened to resume the strike should the marketers fail to revert to pre-fuel tax or create artificial scarcity.
Consequently, NLC directed its state councils nationwide to monitor fuel situations in their states and report back to the National Administrative Council (NAC) Tuesday when the ultimatum would expire, while NAC would in turn report back to both the Central Working Committee (CWC) and National Executive Council (NEC). In fact, comments by government officials since the suspension of the appears to have aided marketers' disobedience of the court order and this has raised considerable anxiety nationwide of a possible resumption of the suspended strike by labour at the end of a meeting this week to review the situation.
Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Funsho Kupolokun, had, last week, told the nation that the current prices were not the ideal prices and that it ought to be between N60 and N70. Last Thursday, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Akin Olujimi, restated the position of the NNPC boss when he told Nigerians at a book launch in Ibadan, Oyo State that Nigerians should be prepared to pay N70 per litre of petrol or live with scarcity of the product.
Replying the NNPC boss weekend, Acting General Secretary of NLC, Comrade Salihu Lukman called on state councils to not only enforce the court order, but to increase the tempo of their mobilisation because the battle was not yet over.
In statement entitled: “Fuel Subsidy: Kupolokun is lying”, the NLC noted: “Since the suspension of the last strike against fuel price increases, the reaction of government officials and its agencies have been nothing but squabbles and quibbles as they attempt, albeit unsuccessfully, to rationalise the apparent failure of government pricing policy in the downstream sector of the oil industry. Rather than implementing the court order of fuel price reduction, what we are witnessing is a flagrant display of insensitivity and a determination to subvert the judiciary and insult the sensibilities of Nigerians. "
The recent pronouncement by the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Funsho Kupolokun, that the recent downward review of fuel prices occasioned by the courts will lead to product boycott by marketers and fuel scarcity is rather sad and unfortunate. This vindicates our position that the government had no intention to obey the court order and would use the strike as an excuse to create artificial scarcity of fuel with a view to sustaining high prices and punishing Nigerians for overwhelmingly supporting the mass protest”.
“Mr. Kupolokun’s claim of the NNPC subsidizing daily fuel price with $2 million to $3 million, should be taken with a pinch of salt. These figures, like every other government transactions, are certainly manipulated or inflated and therefore incorrect. Given this obvious gap, the GMD of the NNPC was either engaged in guesswork, or was outrightly lying. We challenge Mr. Kupolukun to declare how much the federal government makes daily from crude oil sales. The NLC reiterates its position that the nation can maintain the old prices of fuel by using a fraction of excess crude earrings to stabilize domestic prices. Nigerians had voted for democracy and good governance to assure their welfare, and therefore cannot subject their fate and well being to the vagaries of so-called market forces that translate to profiteering by marketers and lining the pockets of corrupt government officials”, the congress stated.
It continued: “It is quite revealing the character of those to whom Nigerians have entrusted governance. At these times of global energy crisis, when governments and policy makers all over the world have found it expedient to intervene with a view to ameliorating the harsh conditions on their people, the federal government through its agencies is obsessed with arbitrary price increases to compound the plight of Nigerians. We wish to caution Mr. Kupolokun and other minions of the government to stop making intemperate and unguarded statements that would exacerbate the prevailing crisis. The suspension of the strike was to facilitate full compliance with the law and any attempt to hide under the guise of marketers to continue to exploit the Nigerian people through exorbitant fuel prices will be roundly resisted”.
“In line with the current court order, which specifically directed the Inspector-General of Police to enforce compliance, we call on all NLC State councils to work with the police, civil society organisations to enforce the reduction of prices of petroleum products to their pre-January rates. All NLC state councils must intensify mobilisation for the next phase of action”.
