LAGOS—PRESIDENT of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday declared as unacceptable to Nigerians, the way the Obasanjo administration is running the affairs of the country. Mr. Oshiomhole, speaking to reporters in Lagos as Labour and the civil society began the build up to the second phase of the general strike, said: “If you have a government that says ‘I said, don’t talk price’ and that word is a law, that is not acceptable in a democracy.”
Just hours after the Labour and Civic Society Coalition made known its intention on the strike, world oil prices first rose by 49 cents to 52.25 dollars only to tumble to 50 dollars a barrel yesterday, while the Anglo-Dutch oil giants, Shell, went to the Federal High Court in Lagos seeking an interlocutory injunction banning its workers from any strike against its reorganisation exercise. The court, however, turned down the request.
At least two top government officials — Employment, Labour and Productivity Minister, Dr. Hassan Lawal, and Presidential Adviser on Petroleum, Dr. Edmund Daukoru — appealed to labour to allow the full deregulation of the downstream sector be.
Mr. Oshiomhole in his chat with reporters yesterday said: “The point we are making is that even the system that makes it impossible to talk to government in a democracy, that itself, is a problem. If you have a government that says, ‘I said, don’t talk price,’ and that word is a law, that is not acceptable in a democracy. I would have wanted to see a government that will say, convince me that my decisions are wrong, but not a government that says you can’t question or you can’t debate my decisions.
"That for us, poses a serious political problem. The political regime that does not allow a president to harvest the ideas, the views, freedom of its citizens is not something we want to defend. People fought and died for democracy, it was not just for the rituals of voting. It is a system that allows the citizens to engage its leaders, one that allows us to persuade our leaders.
The letter of President Obasanjo to the palliative committee says that, the issue of ‘prices is a-no-go-area’, with military finality. That kind of system, we have to engage it. That is the issue.
“Like we pointed out yesterday (Sunday), a committee would meet and articulate the issues. All the coalition partners— NLC, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Congress of Free Trade Unions of Nigeria (CFTU) and Civil Society Organisations— we will reconcile the views and positions and come out with a set of demands. This system cannot go on like this. It is not tolerable. It is not possible that whatever government does, even when it is patently wrong, is not challengeable.
“We are saying that we are worried because, it is like the National Assembly does not count. Otherwise, why would the president feel so comfortable to ignore a motion by the Senate of 109 eminent Nigerians to reverse these prices? And he ignored the motion by 360 members of the House of Representatives that unanimously said to government: look this thing (price hike) is wrong. People are angry, stop doing it. Reverse the price. The President just ignored them. That kind of impunity with which democratic institutions are treated is not acceptable.”
Oil prices tumble
World oil prices tumbled more than two dollars yesterday in New York, sliding below 50 dollars for the first time in nearly a month amid reports of higher Iraqi oil exports and easing fears over a Nigerian strike, analysts said.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, plummeted 2.01 dollars to 49.75 dollars a barrel in early deals. New York crude oil fell as low as 49.40 dollars, a 6.27-dollar, or 11.26-percent, drop from an all-time intra-day high of 55.67 dollars reached during electronic deals one week ago.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in December dived 2.33 dollars to 46.65 dollars a barrel in late deals. It hit an intra-day low of 46.50 dollars.
Alaron Trading analyst Phil Flynn said the slump was caused by news that Iraqi oil exports rose to the highest level since the war and that Nigerian oil workers had not yet decided on a strike.
Lawal, Daukoru beg
Employment, Labour and Productivity Minister, Dr. Hassan Lawal, and Presidential Adviser on Petroleum, Dr. Edmond Daukoru, speaking at different fora in Abuja yesterday appealed to the Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO) to soft-pedal, embrace dialogue and shelve the idea of strike.
Dr. Lawal at a symposium on “Import of deregulation on productivity in a developing economy” said: “The Labour Union has rejected what the government has planned, that is not what Nigerian masses want. What the Nigeria masses want is ways of resolving issues. You can never resolve issues with each party taking an extreme position.
“I don’t think government should be blamed because government has shifted ground. I believe that negotiations or dialogue or discussions should be left opened and the more you discuss, the more likely you are to reach some levels of compromise,” he said.
And in a message to the 4th International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Gas Association (NGA) in Abuja, Dr. Daukoru lamented what he described as “on-going misunderstandings” over the full deregulation of the sub-sector and pleaded with Labour and Civil Society Coalition to give the Mantu Panel benefit of the doubt. His words: “I call on stakeholder groups and civil society to give the Mantu Panel a chance to fully address the initial impact that the full blown deregulation of the gasoline market will have on the citizenry.
Shell loses bid on strike
Meanwhile, a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos yesterday refused to grant Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) an interlocutory injunction forbidding its workers, under the umbrella of the Petroleum and Natural Gas senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) from embarking on strike to protest perceived management anti-workers policies.
Shell had sought amongst others, a perpetual injunction forbidding the company’s branch of NUPENG and PENGASSAN from embarking on any form of strike whether against Shell or otherwise.
Presiding judge, Justice Mustapha Abdullahi, after listening to counsel to Shell, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN) and Mr. Sikiru Akerele who stood in for Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) representing PENGASSAN, adjourned the case for further hearing till November 18.
Justice Abdullahi told the plaintiff and the defendants that he refused to give any order or ruling because he was sure that the matter could be settled out of court even before the next hearing date, saying he had always been careful about labour matters.
