Strike: NLC, FG talks end in deadlock � Reps ask govt to revert to old fuel price
Michael Faloseyi, Cbiawo Nwankwo and Gbade Ogunwale
Talks between the Federal Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress over the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products ended in a deadlock on Wednesday, heightening the prospects of a general strike by theNLC next week.
The meeting had hardly entered discussion stage when the NLC President, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, protested the composition of the government team led by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Dr Timiebi Koripamo-Agary.
The team, according to Oshiomhole, was �too low� to have any meaningful discussion with the NLC on behalf of the Federal Government.
Labour�s position was backed by the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association, which also attended the talks.
And while the altercation was on at the Federal Secretariat office of the Ministry, the House of Representatives asked the Federal Government to revert the new prices of fuel to the old price regime. It also advised Labour to shelve the proposed strike billed to commence on Monday.
At the meeting, Oshiomhole said there was no need for Labour to go ahead with deliberations since, according to him, it was obvious that the government representatives had no mandate to arrive at any concrete decision.
Apparently displeased by the remark, Koripamo-Agary engaged Oshiomhole in a hot debate that lasted about one and a half hours.
Describing the agenda as unwieldy, the NLC president asked, �Are the Niger- Delta people represented here? Is it you and me that will assign responsibilities to them to guide the pipelines? Is that the business of NLC and yourself to tell Niger-Delta indigenes how to police the pipelines? Is that what you think Nigerians are expected to come out of this meeting?
�New dateline to achieve full capacity production of the refineries, templates � this whole thing looks like an attempt to look busy, even as you are settled to do nothing. I think our people are entitled to be told the truth and we will not join you in deceiving Nigerians.
�If the government does not believe there is any need for a meeting, although we believe the meeting is necessary, meeting of stakeholders, confidently prepared to take on the issue, we are prepared to go along. But if it were merely to deceive the public, we would not join you in that.
�With due respect to you Madam, you are a civil servant, you don�t have authority as a Permanent Secretary Ministry of Labour whose business is to mediate, and not to make decision for government, but where is government? Where is the executive arm of government?
�What is clear is that the executive has boycotted this meeting. I do have sympathy for your efforts but I am sure you must feel the pain that the executive has boycotted this meeting, even your minister is not here.
�You have brought here a director of trade unions services in the Ministry, is she the one who would decide on fuel increase and so on?
�It is a pity if the government does not believe that constructive dialogue can solve this issue. We have some other meetings and we want to take every opportunity to meet people. You can spare us the agony of this window dressing. Your address is well written; it conveys your lip and not your heart.�
Before she responded to Oshiomhole�s remarks, Koripamo-Agary called on the Director-General of NECA, Chief Olusegun Oshinowo, to speak.
Oshinowo toed the line of the NLC when he expressed disappointment over the absence of senior political office holders at the meeting.
He said, �NECA does not want this strike. Our economy cannot sustain another strike. We are conversant with the demand by labour that the price should be reversed. We are like the pie in the bugger; we will be at the receiving end of the two opposing views.
�The issues go beyond arithmetic of figures; mathematics and economics of appropriate pricing of petroleum products and it thus appear that there will be need for a meeting at a higher level.�
In her defence, Koripamo-Agary said, I would not sit here for you (Oshiomhole) to undermine the authority of my office. I got the necessary approval to call this meeting and I have the mandate of the executive.��
She, however, pleaded with the NLC to open discussions and that whatever was achieved at that meeting would be built upon at another forum.
Present at the meeting were the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Funsho Kupolokun; Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, Dr. Oluwole Oluleye; Group Executive Director, Corporate Services, Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim; representatives of Total and Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria.
Members of the National Association of Nigerian Students who turned up for the meeting were not allowed in by the Permanent Secretary.
Speaking with journalists after the botched meeting, Oshiomhole said, �If I am going to make contributions, the intention is to try to persuade someone else ... that person cannot be the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Labour.�
Oshiomhole later led a delegation of Labour to a meeting with the Senate Committee on Labour.
Deputy President of the Senate, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu, opened the meeting by warning the NLC against embarking on the strike.
Mantu, argued that rather than alleviating the suffering of the masses, the proposed strike would further aggravate tension in the country.
He said that price adjustments were inevitable because the country depended heavily on imported petrol and allied products to run the economy.
The Deputy President of the Senate attributed the energy crisis in the country to the breakdown of the refineries, adding that 18 companies that applied and obtained licenses to build refineries had failed to do so.
�As I am talking, 18 companies that applied and obtained licenses to build private refineries have since disappeared after obtaining the licenses and they are no where to be found.�
He blamed the lack of incentives on the part of the Federal Government and lack of commitment on the part of the licensees as being responsible for the delay in the take-off of privately owned refineries.
At the House of Representatives, the lawmakers advised the Federal Government to revert fuel prices to the old price regime.
The advice by the House followed a motion by its leader, Alhaji Abdul Ningi, and 16 others asking that the new prices be jettisoned because of their ��general multiplier effects.��
After adopting the motion unanimously through a voice-vote, the lawmakers set up a 17-member committee to dialogue with relevant government agencies, the NLC and civil society groups, on the issue.
Some of the committee members are: Femi Gbaja-biamila; Nze Chidi Duru; Independence Ogunewe; Abike Dabiri; Peter Igbodor; Cairo Ojougbo; Adbul Oroh; Bala Ibn Na�Allah; Ita Enang; and Mao Ohuabunwa.
Meanwhile, the alliance of labour and civil society groups has called on Nigerians to embark on civil disobedience to force President Olusegun Obasanjo to resign.
Leaders of the three labour centres, NLC; Trade Union Congress; and Congress of Free Trade Unions and about 30 civil society groups, in Lagos on Wednesday, unanimously passed a vote of no confidence on the government for inflicting suffering on Nigerians through International Monetary Fund and World Bank-dictated policies.
The Acting Chairman of the Labour and Civil Society Coalition, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, said that groups in each community should undertake rallies and other form of protest to show their annoyance to the government�s policies.
He stated that mechanism would be put in place to monitor and ensure that the protest is successful in each community.
