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Labour
petitions NASS over fuel crisis
�Coalition gives FG new
conditions
�Reps may oppose price hikes
By Bassey Udo (Abuja)
Victor Ebimomi,
Stella Odueme (Lagos)
and Gbenga Faturoti
(Osogbo)
Labour has taken its latest campaign to the leaders of the two chambers
of the National Assembly, urging them to treat their intervention in the
pending strike as a matter of urgent national importance.
A letter signed by the acting General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC), Salihu Lukman, addressed to Senate President Adolphus Wabara
and House Speaker Aminu Masari described as insensitive the new fuel prices
engineered by the government, which �amount to a moral equivalent of a death
sentence�.
The NLC has also written to the National Chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), Audu Ogbeh, to seek his intervention.
Already, the appeal may have caught the sympathy of members of the House
of Representatives fromwhere feelers indicate that they are likely to kick
against the new fuel rates because of their negative multiplier effects on the
economy; which means increased poverty.
The NLC, in its letter to the lawmakers, recalled existing proposals,
including the ones in the private member�s bill sponsored by Masari on the
imperative of a stakeholders� forum to discuss issues around petroleum products
and urged the legislators to take a serious view of the renewed crisis
inflicted on the nation in the interest of peace and stability.
Meanwhile, the Labour-Civil Society Coalition (LASCO) has handed down
additional eight conditions to the government, besides the reversal of the fuel
price hikes, that must be met to avoid the strike planned to begin on October
11.
The conditions include immediate repair of the refineries and
construction of additional ones, the use of excess oil money to improve the
living conditions of Nigerians, payment of pensioners and workers and a halt to
the sale of Nigeria�s properties under the present privatisation programme.
Others are an end to the politicisation of the police and the judiciary,
the improvement of schools, a halt to the devaluation of the naira and creation
of jobs and employment opportunities.
LASCO acting Chairman Beko Ransome-Kuti said in Lagos on Sunday that
Nigerian as have groaned under excruciating conditions for the past five years
without any hope of improvement and, so, the coalition intends to start a
process of ending the suffering through the demands.
Ogbeh, the NLC urged him to prevail on Abuja to reverse its decision on
the latest hike in theprices of petroleum products to avoid Nigerians being
�crushed to the dust�.
Ogbeh was reported to have joined in the condemnation of the new
tariffs, imploring the government not to succumb to pressures from international
groups to surrender the country to market forces through the deregulation of
the oil industry.
Indications are that members of the House of Representatives may go
against the price rises when the National Assembly reconvenes this week.
A source close to the leadership of the Lower House said in Abuja that a
groundswell of opinion by most members is opposed to the new rates.
According to him, most of them believe that raising the prices when
inflation is around 20 percent would not only increase the cost of living and
aggravate rural poverty, but will also multiply the ranks of the 80 per cent of
the population the government says live below the poverty line.
House Committee on Rules and Business Chairman Ita Enang, who spoke in
Abuja, insisted that thegovernment has no justification in its action, saying
it is difficult to understand why Nigeria�s gain in the sale of crude oil on
the international market should be a pain for its people.
In his view, if the country benchmarked this year�s budget on $25 per
barrel of crude oil,and the product is currently selling at about $50, the
government owes the people a responsibility to make them benefit from the
excess revenue.
Governors were not informed of the price hikes, according to Osun State
Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
He said in Osogbo at the weekend that they were not carried along, but
explained that the �palliatives� promised Nigerians by President Olusegun
Obasanjo would go a long way in cushioning the effects of the hardship.
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