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We cant reverse fuel prices-
NNPC,PPPRA
�Protest stays, NLC insists
�Clerics, SSS urge Obasanjo to
prevent strike
By Tony Eluemunor,
Uchenna Awom,
Adetutu
Folasade-Koyi
and Paul Mumeh
(Abuja)
It may look like a long shot,
but the national strike billed to begin on Monday could still be averted,
despite the hard stance of the government and the insistence of the
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to press on with an action guaranteed to
cause chaos � even if that is not its intention.
Security reports have warned
President Olusegun Obasanjo to do all he can to prevent another national
work to rule as it may snowball into an uncontrollable outcome. He does
not have to do so by wielding the sledge hammer against Labour.
Besides, he had a meeting with
Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) on
Thursday where, upon spiritual counseling, he promised to �do something�
about the new fuel prices, the bone of contention, in a way that would
reduce the hardship in the land.
Adeboye is one of the leading
Christian clerics who has the ear of Obasanjo, himself a Christian. The
President was said to have also conferred with other pastors.
As the mediation went on,
Labour restated its desire for the strike as it told the House of
Representatives ad-hoc Committee on Appropriate Pricing that the protest
will kick off by midnight on Sunday.
The matter is not helped with
the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC), Funsho Kupolokun and the Executive Secretary of Petroleum Products
Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Oluwole Oluleye, insisting that they
are not competent to make commitment on price reversal.
In any case, reports from the
State Security Services (SSS) advised the President to either curtail the
strike or avert it. They warned that the consequences of allowing the
action to take place would be dire as there is heightened angst against
the administration across the country.
According to the SSS, the
repercussions of any industrial action now would go beyond the fuel price
issue and touch on other matters as politicians would use the popular
anger to foment trouble.
Adeboye, one of the religious
leaders mediating to head off the conflict, was at Aso Rock on Thursday
morning for a �breakfast counseling� of Obasanjo, ahead of the church�s
night vigil at the Abuja Stadium.
He reportedly advised him to
handle the situation with care and counselled him to defuse �the tension
in the land� over the fuel price hikes because he would be negating all
the plans God has for him if he refuses to listen to the cries of the
people.
Obasanjo was said to have
listened and promised to "do something" and to act in the best interest of
the country.
He may have received other
religious leaders on the matter after the NLC reached out to them in an
attempt to get him to rescind the price hikes.
And it was learnt that a top
secret ad hoc committee, headed by Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has been
working quietly to stop the strike.
Set up on September 23, its
other members include Kukpolokun, Federal Capital Territory Minister Nasir
el-Rufai, Presidential Senior Special Assistant Oby Ezekwesili, SSS
director, Police Inspector General Tafa Balogun and PPPRA boss Rasheed
Gbadamisi.
The committee has been having
a series of marathon meetings since Wednesday to try find a way out of the
problem.
At the parliamentary session
on Thursday, House Rules and Business Chairman Ita Enang warned of the
consequences of sharing the excess crude oil earnings among the three
tiers of government while fuel subsidy remains.
The ad-hoc committee, led by
Chidi Duru, was set up on Wednesday. It appealed to the Presidency at its
inaugural sitting on Thursday to revert to the old fuel prices.
NLC President Adams Oshiomhole
told the committee that Labour will only call-off the planned strike if
the government, in deference to the House resolution and entreaties from
other Nigerians, reverses the rates.
If not, he said, by midnight
on Sunday, the mass protest will kick off. �Whatever the government will
do in obedience to the intervention and in reverence to the House and
revert to the old prices, then the strike will be called off, but if
otherwise, the strike kicks off midnight Sunday�.
When Kupolokun was asked by
Duru if the government would revert to the old prices, he told the panel
that he has no mandate from the government to make such a commitment, as
he was there in his capacity as NNPC boss.
But he warned that if the
deregulation of the oil sector is reversed, NNPC may not be able to �pay
salaries of its workers�.
In his own contribution,
Oluleye asked for time to consult with the government before making the
agency�s stand known.
However, Duru told the
stakeholders that the committee will meet with President Olusegun Obasanjo
to intimate him of its findings, and to pass on the House resolution to
him.
The Senate lent its voice to
the demand by the House that the prices be reversed to their pre-September
23 levels.
In an unanimous resolution at
Thursday�s plenary, it called for an amendment of the PPPRA Act and urged
both Obasanjo and the NLC to meet with all stakeholders to avert the
strike.
Senate Employment, Labour and
Productivity Committee Chairman Bassey Ewa-Henshaw will today represent
the Upper House at a meeting of stakeholders convened in Abuja at the
instance of the Governors Forum (GF).
The invitation was extended to
the Senate by GF Chairman, Akwa Ibom State Governor Victor Attah.
Thursday�s session at the
Senate was presided over by its Deputy President Ibrahim Mantu, who
queried the composition of the PPPRA and described it as �lopsided and
most disturbing�.
Senators Maccido, Kola
Awoyelu, Omar Hambagda called for a reversal to the old order while
Senators Kanti Bello, Saidu Dansadau, Nicholas Ugbane, and Umaru Tsauri
canvassed amendment of the PPPA Act.
Notwithstanding the
contributions of his colleagues, Mantu asked them to shed sentimentality
and see reason.
His words: �I note your
concern for the welfare and plight of the common man. There are instances
where our sentimentality and emotion becloud our sense of reasoning. Have
you forgotten that some months ago, charred remains of Nigerians who
either hoarded fuel or were burnt by petrol were being broadcast on
television for all to see? I think we should remember all these.
�We should take decisions that
will be for the greater benefit of the people and we should not take
decisions that will make us play to the gallery. We have a right to do the
right thing for the people because the people have given us the
mandate�.
Although senators only called
for an amendment of the PPPRA Act, Mantu said: �We cannot scrap the PPPRA.
In the communication sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
is in charge. The PPPRA should be there to ensure correct pricing. We
cannot scrap the agency because if we do so, it will be
dangerous�.
Thereafter, the Senate
adopted, with slight amendments, the recommendations of the committee.
They include that �a special
appeal be immediately forwarded to the President to urgently open
discussions with all stakeholders with a view to averting the planned
nationwide strike and finding a permanent solution to the recurring
problem of increases in the pump prices of petroleum products and the
attendant threats of strike�.
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