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Only Obasanjo can avert strike
Only
Obasanjo can avert strike —Maccido
THOMAS
IMONIKHE, Deputy Political Editor, Lagos and COSMAS EKPUNOBI (Abuja)
AHEAD
of impending workers’ strike tomorrow, President Olusegun Obasanjo has been
accused as the mastermind of incessant hikes in prices of petroleum products,
and only him holds the key to break the current deadlock between labour and
government.
That is the view of Senator
Badamasi Maccido, in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja. He therefore
said that the President should be blamed if the sit-at-home strike goes ahead
tomorrow with its far reaching implication, on the economy and the world oil
market.
One sure way to avert tomorrow’s
strike according to Senator Maccido is for President Obasanjo to prevail on the
oil marketers, the NNPC and Petroleum Products and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to
revert to the old price of N42 per litre. This comes just as former civilian
governor of old Kaduna State urged President Obasanjo to resign.
So far, all meetings with labour,
led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole remain deadlocked, including an emergency
meeting between selected state governors and NLC, as a last ditch effort to
avert the imminent strike. The National Assembly has equally called for a revert
to old price to no avail. Senator Maccido told our correspondent in Abuja that
the latest hike was needless and a punishment for the suffering masses in the
country. He said government argument for the latest increase was unconvincing.
He maintained that even in the
face of importation of finished petroleum products into the country, the ideal
thing government should have done was to dip hands into the hefty excess crude
revenue resulting from recent jump in world oil sales to cushion the effects.
We got huge money from crude
sales at international market and what Nigerians are asking government is to
take a little part of it and help them," Maccido said. He remarked that the
poor state of the refineries was no excuse to inflict pains, through high prices
for petroleum products on the people.
On the role of the price
regulatory agency PPPRA, Senator Maccido said the agency has done more harm than
good to Nigerians. "The power given to PPPRA is unwarranted because you
cannot give one person or agency the wisdom to increase or decrease the pump
price of petrol in Nigeria today."
As a result, Senator Maccido said
there was urgent need for the National Assembly to have "another look at
the Act establishing the agency (PPPRA), because it is enjoying enormous power
which does not portend good for our democracy."
In view of the imminent strike
tomorrow, Senator Maccido also urged President Obasanjo to immediately open
frank discussions with all stakeholders towards finding permanent solution to
the perennial petroleum price hikes.
National Chairman, Conference of
Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji Balarabe Musa yesterday urged
President Olusegun Obasanjo to resign from office for his inability to tackle
the nation’s socio-economic problems.
He also implored Nigerians
especially members of CNPP to fully comply with the stay at home order of the
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to protest the recent hike in the prices of
petroleum products.
Speaking with Sunday Champion
in Ikeja, Lagos, Friday, Alhaji Musa said Chief Obasanjo should hand over to
interim National Government of Unity which primary task would be to take the
country out of the woods.
"We (CNPP) are sending a
message to the Federal Government that they have not performed, they are not
likely to perform and they are in a way threatening the continued existence of
Nigeria as one indivisible nation. We have had enough of them. President
Obasanjo had disappointed Nigerians and therefore he should step aside like his
predecessor in office, former military President Gen., Ibrahim Badamosi
Babangida.
On the planned strike by the NLC,
the former governor of Kaduna State urged Nigerians to support the industrial
action to force the government to reverse its decision.
"The CNPP has already
expressed its support for the strike by the NLC.
I am using this medium to call on
Nigerians especially members of CNPP to support it actively by joining the
strike," he said.
But the negotiations between the
federal government and organised labour over the hike in prices of petroleum
products collapsed again last Friday, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has
announced a two-phased strike that will commence tomorrow.
For about two weeks now, the NLC
has been battling with the federal government to revert to the old prices of
petroleum products having announced a 20 per cent increase in the prices.
Labour had given the government a
14-day ultimatum which expires midnight today, to revert to old prices, to which
the government had remained adamant.
At the Nicon Hilton Hotel, Abuja
where the organised labour met with some governors behind closed doors for about
five hours, NLC president, Adams Oshiomhole insisted that the sit-at-home
protest must go on as planned.
Said he: "I regret to say
that this meeting has no concrete proposals on the table.
All that the governors order to
us was that they are going to persuade Mr. President to allow for dialogue.
"The problem has been that
the federal government has completely shut their doors to dialogue. The
governors say they are going to make request to him for dialogue, making request
is not same thing as giving assurance that you are even going to have dialogue
not to talk about what the dialogue will achieve.
"So it is clear that the 14
days was wasted without a meeting with the executive because the executive was
not ready, therefore the strike will go on."
Oshiomhole expressed dismay that
solution could not be found saying that even while the strike is one labour was
open to dialogue.
He charged that Nigerians cannot
continue to bear the pains endlessly, remarking that it was a shame that in a
democracy the people cannot talk to their government, while calling on all
Nigerians in all professions to sit at home from tomorrow.
Speaking briefly with newsmen
after the meeting, chairman of Governors Forum, Obong Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom,
noted that the governors were not opposed to the deregulation policy, but said
that it should be done without causing hardship to the people.
He however pointed out that they
had a frank that with labour where they told each other the truth, adding that
they will meet again on Monday.
At the Labour House headquarters
of the NLC, the Labour-civil society coalition addressed the press after the
meeting.
Oshiomhole stated that the first
phase of the protest which begins tomorrow will be halted on Thursday 14th after
which the action while continue Monday 18th which will last two weeks.
If there is no meaningful
progress the strike may be indefinite, he added.
The NLC president said that in as
much as the reforms may be necessary, the people for whom it was meant to uplift
their lives, should not be traumatised or killed in the process.
He warned the government not to
use violence on the people while also advising Nigerians not to engage in any
act of violence.
Chairman of the coalition, Dr.
Beko Ransome-Kuti stressed that this should not be treated like previous strikes
where after the action was suspended the government inadvertently put back the
hiked prices on products.
He added that this was the reason
why the strike will be broken into phases to monitor and see to its success.
Governors present at the meeting
were those of Akwa Ibom, Abia, Kaduna, Ebonyi, Plateau, Bayelsa, Kano, Anambra
while that of Oyo sent his deputy.
Also present were NNPC’s GMD,
PPPRA’s secretary and other top functionaries.
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