The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its allies, will today hold a peaceful procession in Abuja to mobilise Nigerians for the November 16, 2004 proposed nationwide strike to protest the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products.
The Nigeria Police Force has however, warned the NLC against such procession, saying that it could be hijacked by miscreants and hoodlums.
Similarly a procession by the NLC took place in Lagos last week where the congress and the police exchanged words on the possibility or otherwise of the procession being hijacked by miscreants and hoodlums.
In a letter addressed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Tafa Balogun, the NLC said that the purported reference to empirical evidence and intelligence about miscreants was unfounded, false and an attempt by the police to evade its constitutional responsibilities.
“The reference to eccentric “empirical evidence” about previous occasions being “hijacked by miscreants resulting in looting of properties and loss lives” is at best your imagination. Our records of previous occasions revealed no such incidences.
“On the contrary, police highhandedness, resulting in the use of tear gas and live ammunitions against peaceful protesters led to injuries and loss of lives. The report of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on the June 2003 strikes and protests document this fact,” the NLC said.
The letter signed by the acting general secretary of the NLC, Comrade Salihu M. Lukman, said that the rights of Nigerians to protest, including the right to embark on public procession, is already granted in section 40 of the 1999 constitution and does not require the permission or approval of the police auth-ority.
The NLC said that it is the duty of the police to provide protection for citizens who wish to take advantage of the provision of section 40 of the 1999 constitution to express their grievances.
The union therefore called on the police not to shield the government from the feelings and grievances of Nigerians and urged the police high command to respect its constitutional obligations by providing cover for today’s procession.
Meanwhile, workers in the oil and gas industry under the aegis of the National Union of Petroleum and Nat-ural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Nat-ural Gas Senior Staff Associa-tion of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), have disclosed readiness to paralyse the oil sector on November 16.
President of PENGASSAN, Dr Louis Brown Ogbeifor, told Daily Trust in an interview at the weekend, that his union would ensure total paralysis of the production and distribution of petroleum prod-ucts in the country.
The PENGASSAN president said, “in the past, we have been accused of not doing enough to support NLC strikes. This time around, we are going to do our best to paralyse the oil sector.”
The oil workers leader declared further that Shell’s decision to drag the union to court would further instigate the union to participate effectively in the strike.
Similarly, NUPENG in a press statement made available to Daily Trust and signed by its national president, Comrade Peter Akpatsun, ordered its members to stop lifting oil as from Monday, November 15, to cripple movement in the sector.
According to the two page statement, NUPENG members should stay away from work until they receive a counter directive from the union’s national executive committee (NEC).
Also, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), has called on the federal government to revert to the old prices of petroleum products with a view to avoid a national calamity.
This position was conta-ined in a communiqué issued at the end of the 15th regular north-east zonal meeting of the association held at the Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri, between October 29 and 30, 2004.
According to the communiqué which was signed by the north-east zonal co-ordinator, Andrew Michael Gaye and made available to Daily Trust, ASUP frowned at what it referred to as “the federal government’s incessant penchant to increase the pump prices of petroleum products,” describing the action as capable of rooting calamity into the country’s polity.
“The meeting called on the federal government to immediately revert to the previous prices of petroleum products to avoid a national calamity that may be precipitated by the increase,” the communiqué cautioned.
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