Strike goes ahead � NLC � Police call for dialogue
Everest Amaefule, Dotun Oladipo and Babatunde Oke
Labour said on Sunday that the nationwide strike, planned with civil society groups, would begin on Tuesday as scheduled.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, said there was no going back on the strike, which is intended to protest recent increases in the prices of petroleum products.
But the Nigeria Police has urged restraint on the part of labour and its coalition partners.
The Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun, said the strike would not do the national economy any good, and should be avoided.
Oshiomhole, who could not make it to a scheduled news conference in Abuja on Sunday, said in a statement by the union that the Federal Government had failed to take appropriate steps to address the grievances of workers.
NLC led a four-day warning strike between October 11 and 15, asking the government to revert the prices of petroleum products to previous levels or face an indefinite strike beginning from Tuesday, November 16.
Part of the measures by the Federal Government to avert the strike was the setting up of a palliative measures committee headed by Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu.
The NLC statement on Sunday by Oshiomhole said, �The Federal Government has still not taken the appropriate steps to address the immediate grievance of the Nigerian people generated by its harsh and unbearable petroleum pricing policy.
�It is instructive that even the Presidency had publicly admitted over the Sallah holidays the sheer senselessness of the fuel pricing policy, especially with respect to kerosene, which NLC had all the while pointed out.
�Before now, organised labour and civil society have afforded the Federal Government so much time to set in motion the machinery for price reversal, while the NLC had also returned to the Senator Ibrahim Mantu Committee in furtherance of commitment to dialogue.
�Unfortunately, this administration remains insensitive to the suffering of the people and the destruction it is inflicting on the economy through these unbearable prices.
�Therefore, the General Strike/Mass Campaign scheduled to begin on Tuesday 16th of November, 2004 proceeds as planned nationwide by various organisations of the Nigerian people.�
According to Oshiomhole, the strike is necessary to enable the government appreciate the anger and bitterness of the citizenry over the harsh effects of increases in petroleum products prices and its failure to listen to the wishes of the people.
He appealed to Nigerians to make the necessary sacrifices required for the success of the strike.
�The situation will degenerate even further if this government is not made to appreciate that Nigerians cannot any longer carry the burden of policies involving no concern for public welfare,� he said.
The NLC president advised the Federal Government to take steps to avert the strike instead of resorting to intimidation, harassment, renting of thugs to violate the premises of the NLC, and sponsoring fake dissidents in the labour movement.
He also advised the Nigerian Police to exercise restraint in managing strikes.
He said, �Nigerian workers shall refuse to be intimidated by any attempt to turn the nation into a police state. Nigerians will not allow their rights to be limited by arbitrary use of state power.
�Our rights to strike and protest shall not be enjoyed at the pleasure of the police or the state. They are inalienable constitutional rights.�
Oshiomhole, who later spoke with our correspondents, faulted government�s argument that it subsidised kerosene, as a way of �subsidising� the rural poor.
He said, �There is no way the price of kerosene can have effect because most of the people that use kerosene will have to buy other products, especially food stuff.
�So far, the farmers use vehicles to bring the food from the farm to the city. Prices of things will continue to be on the high side and the only sensible thing for this government to do is to face the reality and revert prices of petroleum products to the pre-September 23 regime.�
However, the police have said while it recognised the right of labour to declare trade dispute, it would not condone any threat to public peace.
A statement personally signed by the I-G urged labour to �continue to dialogue with the government on how to cushion the effects of the increases in prices of petroleum products on the masses.�
The statement read, �The Nigerian Labour Congress has threatened to resume its strike on November 16, 2004 over increases in the prices of petroleum products. The NLC leadership has said that the next strike will be indefinite and more massive in participation. Preparatory to this, labour leaders have started mobilising members of the public to participate in the strike.
�The scale and magnitude of the proposed strike are quite frightening and disturbing. The police wish to note that the strike coming in less than one month after the last one in October 2004, will not do any good to the stability of the country, our national economy, nascent democracy, international image and reputation.
�Such strikes often result in enormous economic losses for the country and the people. Internal security, peace and stability are never enhanced. The growth of our young democracy will be retarded. The cumulative effect of these strikes is that it does not encourage adequate investment in the country.
�At the end, the ordinary man whose interest labour claims to be championing is more adversely affected by the strike than without it. In effect, in every strike everyone loses one way or the other.
�The police recognise the right of labour to declare trade dispute. But labour law itself does not support violence, nor does it warrant colouration of protest. Therefore, caution and discretion are very necessary, especially at this critical moment of our national life. The Nigeria Police therefore use this medium to sue for peace and hereby call on labour to continue to dialogue with the government on how to cushion the effects of the increase in prices of petroleum products on the masses.
�The police are calling for this peaceful approach, using the instrumentality of dialogue which is nationally and internationally acclaimed as the most rational and best practice in any civilised society. Knowing full well that labour leaders have the interest of the nation and the citizenry in particular at heart, the Nigeria Police Force urges labour leaders to bury the hatchet and embrace peaceful negotiation and dialogue.
�All persons (workers inclusive) are enjoined to go about their lawful duties and legitimate businesses without fear of harassment and intimidation. The police have made adequate arrangement to provide security to all banks, hospitals, schools, financial institutions, NNPC, NITEL and NEPA installations, Federal and State Civil Services� Secretariats, parastatals, markets, motor parks filling stations, etc. Any person or group of persons who threaten public peace will not be spared. Such persons will be promptly arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the law.�
It was learnt that each of the groups making up the Labour and Civil Society Coalition met at various venues on Sunday to perfect their strategies for the strike.
In Lagos, the Central Working Committee of TUC resolved that individual affiliates of the congress should issue reminders to their branches to ensure that the strike was total.
Meanwhile, some state councils and branches of the National Union of Road Transport Workers have dissociated themselves from the strike.
In separate statements, Oyo and Kwara states� executive councils of the union said that they would not be part of the strike as it will be of no benefit to them.
The United Action for Democracy, the Campaign for Democracy and pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, on Sunday declared their support for the impending strike.
Convener of UAD, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, at a news conference in Lagos said that labour and the civil society groups were prepared for the strike.
Aturu noted that the ruling last Thursday of the Abuja division of the Federal Appeal Court was not binding on civil society organisations spearheading the strike. He said the only way out was for the government to revert to the pre-September 22.
He said, �The fact that President Olusegun Obasanjo has accepted that the price of kerosene was outrageously high and unacceptable justifies our condemnation of the atrocious policy of deregulation.
�The strike will go on as planned, as the judgment of the court in Abuja does not bind LACSO because the Nigeria Labour Congress did not call the strike.
�Under our laws, a party that is not before the court cannot be bound by the decision of that court, be it the final or interlocutory decision.
�We are still going ahead with the strike, unless something like the reversal of the prices happen between now and then.�
Aturu said since the government could not find a solution to the crisis besetting the energy sector, it should resign and allow for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference where true representatives of the people would find a solution to the country�s numerous problems.
Afenifere, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said the group unequivocally endorsed the resumption of the strike.
According to Afenifere, it is unfortunate that the Federal Government could not avert the strike by reverting to the old prices because it was not a listening government.
The group added, �Like he who has been earmarked for destruction by the gods, the government remained adamant on its deregulation without a �human face�, copyright President Obasanjo.�
The group also alleged that Obasanjo had remained far from those who voted him into office, and therefore does not know that there is poverty in the land as indicated by his recent statement.
The statement added, �The only way Nigerians can draw the attention of this president to their worsening conditions since the latest hike is to give maximum support to the labour strike.�
