NLC threatens to prolong strike� PENGASSAN may disrupt oil export
Our Correspondents
Many businesses and government offices remained closed in Lagos and other major cities on Tuesday as the stay-at-home protest by workers over the September 23 increase in petroleum products, prices entered its second day.
Situation reports indicated that peace reigned across the country except in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where a man described as a �tout� was shot dead by the police and in Lagos where two people were injured in a face-off with the police.
The incidents occurred hours before the Nigeria Labour Congress threatened to extend the strike beyond Thursday because of the killing by the police of a teenage protester, Sani Hamisu, in Kaduna, Kaduna State, on Monday.
Early on Tuesday, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria warned that it might bring Nigeria�s oil exports to a standstill on Wednesday (today) if the Federal Government failed to comply with Labour�s demand.
The NLC President, Mr. Adams Oshimhole, had, while addressing journalists in Abuja, condemned Hamisu�s killing and what he described as the use of �blackmail� to rationalise the hike in fuel prices.
Oshiomhole said, �We are committed to a peaceful protest; however, the response of the state has been brutal. In Kaduna we can now confirm that police shot and killed an unarmed and defenceless citizen in Tundunwada area.
�The reports from other parts of the country from Maiduguri, Enugu, Anambra States and elsewhere confirmed that several people have been arrested on flimsy charges of unlawful assembly and so- called disturbance of public peace.
�I did say that once they begin to shoot and kill, the character of this protest would change. We cannot abandon this country. We must defend it and we must defend our right to be heard.
�Therefore we are consulting with our colleagues across board and we would carry out a comprehensive appraisal of it (the strike) on Thursday. If they continue with the arrests and killings, we reserve the right to elongate this protest and to readjust the character of the struggle and redesign the calendar.�
On the allegation that the NLC was bent on pulling down the government, Oshiomhole said, �President Olusegun Obasanjo said yesterday that those of us who criticise him have only one objective: To run down his government.
�I want to deny publicly that we have nothing to gain by running down this government because we cannot profit from the process. We cannot profit from the confusion that would follow if the government collapses.
�We invite the President to play back the address he read to the nation on the 8th of October last year where he told Nigerians that it was better to fix the price at N40, so that Nigerians would feel the pain once and for all, and that thereafter, prices would begin to come down.
�We are supposed to believe our President but he was misled by beneficiaries of ill-thought out deregulation, by agents of importers and those who have wrecked our refineries and who are into this multi-billionaire business of importation which makes us
a laughing stuck in the comity of oil exporting nations.�
He, however, commended the composition of the stakeholders committee.
Labour�s membership of the committee, according to him, would be reviewed on Thursday especially, �If it is clear that the price is not an issue and the government is not ready to look at the price at that committee level and would not allow us to discuss it.�
But as the strike progressed in Lagos, a gang of unknown persons injured the National Treasurer of the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees, Mr. D. Ileh.
Ileh was part of one of the monitoring teams of the Labour and Civil Society Organisations.
The gang also damaged some vehicles in the LASCO convoy.
Head of NLC�s Information Unit, Mr Owei Lakemfa, who confirmed the attack, said the matter had been reported at Area �C� Command, Abalti Barracks, Surulere.
LASCO, however, condemned the constitution of the committee on measures to cushion the effects of the recent hike in fuel prices, describing it as deceitful.
Addressing journalists in Lagos, Chairman of LASCO, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti, said the government intended to use the committee to weaken the resolve of Nigerians to reject the new fuel prices.
Ransome-Kuti, therefore, dissociated LASCO from the committee and called on the government to address the issues on the ground which include the reversal of fuel prices to pre-September 23 price regime and discussion with other stakeholders.
Our correspondents who toured major commercial centres in Lagos reported that banks and filling stations remained shut while traffic on major roads improved slightly.
The popular Mile 12, Balogun, Tejuosho Model, Alaba International, ASPAMDA, and Oyingbo markets also remained closed. Only petty traders were sighted at entrances and roads close to the markets.
A petty trader at Balogun Street Market who said she supported the strike however, explained that she came out because she needed to feed her children.
�If I stay at home, how do my children feed? I am in full support of the NLC strike but I need to fend for my family too,� Abibat Oladimeji said.
But the worst hit in Lagos by the strike were commercial vehicle and airline operators.
At the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, flights were disrupted as airlines grounded planes for lack of passengers.
A few commercial vehicle operators who were on the roads had few passengers to carry. Fares remained very stable. For instance, a trip from Iyana Ipaja to Oshodi remained N30, while from that Yaba to Oyingbo was N20.
In Abuja, security agents arrested eight union leaders at the Sheraton Hotel. Those arrested were the Secretary of the National Union of Hotels and Personal Services Employees, Mr. Hassan Amedu; and Messrs Issa Ibrahim and Bashir Odokara, chairman and secretary of the NICON Hotel chapter of the union.
The arrests took place in the evening when they were monitoring �strike compliance� in the hotels. Labour immediately condemned the arrests.
In Port Harcourt, our correspondents reported that a tout was gunned down by a police officer at Eleme Junction following a disagreement.
Witness account had it that, touts had blocked the road extorting money from motorists and molesting those who failed to �pay.�
This, according to one of the witnesses, attracted some policemen at a nearby station.
It was learnt that in the process of persuading the �touts,� a disagreement ensued, resulting in an accidental discharge, which killed one of them (touts) on the spot.
One of the witnesses said, �The touts ran away but later re-grouped and blocked the highway and prevented people from either coming in or going out of the town.
�The police tried to control the situation without using guns but when it became obvious that the boys were bent on causing more trouble, the police started shooting into the air to scare them away.�
The commissioner of police, Mr. Sylvester Araba, confirmed the incident.
�We have referred the case to the state CID (Criminal Investigations Department) to look into. Since the problem resulted in the death of a person that is the procedure we normally follow.�
In Edo State where government offices and businesses also remained closed, the Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Bright Omokhodion, said the government might lose N70 million during the strike period.
Omokhodion who lamented it would be difficult to recoup such money after the strike.
In Osun State, the worst hit by the strike were government hospitals, schools, parastatals such as NEPA, NITEL, banks, Governor�s Office and the state House of Assembly.
