Strike's Result of Insensitivity - ANPP
By Ndubuisi Ugah
As Nigerians continue to react to the four-day warning strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) ends today, the All Nigerians People's Party (ANPP) has advised the People's Democratic Party (PDP) led government of President Olusegun Obasanjo to stop plunging the nation into avoidable season of strikes or quit office.
In a communiqu� issued in Lagos at the end of its South-west zone meeting and signed by its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Y. Olanipekun, the party said the nation has experienced a plethora of avoidable strikes which had been to the disadvantage of the country.
The party said what the government owed Nigerians was either to sit up to address some of the problems facing the country or its quits if its finds the task of administering the country Herculean.
Chronicling the series of strikes that have occurred since the assumption of President Obasanjo into power, ANPP said "first, it was the session-long 1999-strike called by the Nigerian Union Teachers (NUT) on behalf of all teachers in the nation's primary schools. Next, was that called by the academic staff in our universities, followed by that of their counterparts in all our polytechnics, each of which lasted close to one academic session. And then came that by the administrative staff of the Universities. We have experienced strikes by doctors, and lately by staff of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Yaba Psychiatric Hospital, and currently the one by teachers in the nation's one hundred and fifteen Federal Government Colleges".
The party also noted that the nation has experienced crippling nation-wide strikes called by the NLC on two previous occasions and also recalled the unprecedented strike by the junior officers of the Nigeria police.
Wondering why the present administration is not bordered by the avoidable losses incurred by the nation's economy because of these strikes, ANPP reasoned that workers and employees always resort to strikes as a last option when pushed to the wall.
The communiqu� said the party "viewed with disappointment, the arrogant and fraudulent posture of the Obasanjo administration concerning crude oil and its refined products, whereby it savours unbudgeted revenue accruing from the escalated crude prices, and simultaneously turns its back against the common man, leaving him alone to bear the brunt of the high costs of the refined petroleum products which are threatening to exterminate him".
The party argued that if the cost of crude oil that Nigeria exports instigates higher prices for the refined petroleum products imported, elementary economics provides that " if one enjoys earning more from his exports, one must channel a fraction of the extra revenue earned to stabilize the prices of imports, for as long as the situation remains abnormal".
"He whose earning power increases must be prepared to spend more. This is a sacrosanct tenet of a responsible administration", it added.
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