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Avert this
strike!
During the
October 11-14
warning strike, which ground commerce and industry, nationwide, the
consequences and spill-over effect were moderated because people were
generally requested to observe the strike action at home and avoid any
public rallies and protests. As experience has shown, it is during such
public protests that miscreants are wont to hijack the process to
perpetrate and unleash general mayhem. It is during such instances that
the law enforcement agents get jittery, lose their nerves with the
consequent loss of lives. Generally peaceful as it was, some lives were
lost especially in Kaduna. But the strike that has been slated to commence
on November 16, 2004 is of a different hue. We have been warned that it is
going to be total; there would be protest marches, demonstrations and it
would affect all sectors of the economy including the oil sector and the
aviation industry.
The bad news is that everyone
suffers once a strike takes place. The economy is literally shut down and
therefore productivity is lost. Going by the Gross Domestic Product
measure of the productivity of the Nigerian Economy, the country loses an
average of 20 billion naira per day in lost production. Considering that
the informal sector of the economy is very large, conservatively
estimated to be at least
twice the formal sector, the aggregate loss in productivity is of the
order of 60 billion naira per day of strike. We all agree that this is a
loss that the country cannot afford.
There are other avoidable
dislocations and disruptions to the life of the citizens. During the last
warning strike, for instance, some candidates who were scheduled to take
West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) could not
do so because there was no means of transport. According to the West
African Examinations Council (WAEC), such candidates have to wait
unfortunately till next year. There are those who died because for one
reason or another they were unable to access needed medical care and
attention. Also, a country that is strike-prone is rendered uncompetitive
and to that extent cannot be a preferred destination for investment. And
what is perhaps even more portentous is that the orgy of violence which
usually characterises strike actions is a perfect environment, for anyone
so inclined, to disrupt the on-going experiment at democratisation to the
unmitigated shame of a country that prides itself as a leader in Africa
and a home to three out of every four black persons in the
world.
The instability in world
prices of crude oil resulting in the frequent hike in pump prices of
petroleum products, is due to the fact of the deregulation which the
Government has embarked upon to guarantee regular and uninterrupted supply
of petroleum products. There is no doubt that the generality of the
population are appreciative of the ready and regular availability of
petroleum products and would not want to go back to the days of long
queues or the purchase of often adulterated products from hawkers.
However, it is a fact that frequent increases in the price of the products
are not the way forward and therefore not sustainable. This situation is
paradoxical because the country enjoys natural endowment in hydrocarbon
that places it as the sixth largest exporter of the product in the
world.
The President avows that he
loves Nigeria and this seemingly makes him to take these very excruciating
and unpopular decisions. But he should also be open to persuasion by the
wishes of a generality of the citizenry including informed commentators.
The President must not continue to arrogate to himself, a monopoly of
knowledge in this matter. It is good for us to build for the future. But
we must guarantee today to have a future. As one popular advertisement
payoff line asserts, �The future begins today.�
The Committee instituted by
Government for palliatives submitted an interim report that broached the
idea of some reversal in price. The President responded that the Committee
went beyond its mandate, as price review was a no-go area. The Government
claims that it has offered palliatives that revolves round the provision
of buses across the States in the Federation as well as a reduction in the
rate of duty on drug importation. The Governors have declared that they
will decide who gets what, what routes the buses would ply and how much
fare would be charged. That does not sound like a commercial proposition
but rather like another avenue to extend patronage to party men and
loyalists. We do not think such measures would provide any relief to the
suffering masses now or in the future.
Government in the 2005 budget
speech identified all kinds of subsidy it avers to give to various
interests and stakeholders in the economy. We propose to Government to
consider taking money from the �excess crude� account to subsidise the
prices of petroleum products, to avert the looming and significant danger
that the proposed strike portends. In the long run we must revive local
refining capacity. It is unfortunate and pitiable that this country should
depend on importation of petroleum products to meet local consumption
requirements.
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