LAGOS—BARELY 24 hours after the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) handed down a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, officials of the State Security Service (SSS) yesterday quizzed the President of the NLC, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, even as civil society groups resolved after a meeting with NLC officials to embark on a stay-at-home protest from October 11. The group said Nigerians have had enough of increases in the prices of petroleum products.
The protest is to be prosecuted by a broad-based coalition of labour and civil society including unions not affiliated to the NLC.
Besides, the NLC yesterday lodged an appeal before the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, challenging the judgment delivered on September 21, this year by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Roseline Ukeje, which declared among others that the Congress has no power under the law to call out Nigerian workers on general strike to protest government policies.
Meanwhile, civil society groups are scheduled to meet in Lagos today after which they would release a comprehensive list of their demands from the Federal Government.
The coalition, speaking through the NLC president, Mr Oshiomhole, appealed to Nigerians to “appreciate that we cannot afford to give up at this point. If anything, the resolve of the government to continue to inflict this punishment to the extent that even traditional rulers who they used to run to are also now groaning, it is clear that Nigerians have had enough and we must all come out and demonstrate that growing frustration, growing state of hopelessness and leave the government and its agents in no doubt that Nigerians are fed up with an economic policy which increasingly dehumanises the populace.”
The interrogation of Mr Oshiomhole by the SSS in Abuja delayed his arrival for yesterday’s meeting with the civil society organisations in Lagos. A competent source at the NLC secretariat said Oshiomhole’s interrogation was not unconnected with the decision of the National Executive council of the NLC.
Briefing journalists on yesterday’s meeting which was attended by civil rights activists such as Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, Comrade Chima Ubani and others, Mr. Oshiomhole said: “The coalition endorsed the decision of the NLC to proceed on a general mass protest and stay-at-home strike beginning on October 11 if the Federal Government does not reverse the prices to the old rate by that time.”
Making reference to previous struggles on the fuel price issue, he said: “We all have learnt from our past struggles. We have seen the gains, we have seen the limitations and on the basis of the experience we have learnt from those previous phases of struggle, this current phase will be enriched from the lessons learnt from the past and we are sure that we would come out much, much better this time around.”
The NLC president said the coalition’s action was justified because even the “Nigerian Manufacturers and Chambers of Commerce, they are groaning. Even GSM operators, we understand, are threatening to increase prices because they have to maintain their stand-by generators.”
He said: “The coalition is alarmed and scandalised by the fact that after the president returned from the African Union summit on Poverty and Employment where African leaders lamented the growing poverty in Africa and where they promised the people of Africa of a commitment to take deliberate measures to reduce the level of poverty and unemployment in the continent, that just one week later, the government is at home taking measures that are going to destroy jobs and increase the number of Nigerians who are within the poverty bracket which might increase to 80 to 90 per cent of the population.”
Government, he said, had “demonstrated unusual stubbornness given the fact that the Nigerian people have protested against this price hike for the sixth time and the government has increased prices from N20 to N60 representing 200 per cent over a period of five years and from the pronouncement of the government and their agencies, it is clear that we have not yet seen the worst because the logic of this policy is that the government will not maintain the refineries. The policy is exclusively import-driven and all of us are supposed to be at the mercy of marketers.
“This is completely irresponsible and, therefore, we are unanimous at the coalition that this protest must be sustained and it must done in a way that this government must never be allowed again to subject the Nigerian people to these endless increases. So, we are not only going to fight against this increase, we are talking about a common attitude against even any future increases during the life span of this government.”
Oshiomhole argued that the policy of the Federal Government “will do grievious harm to our national economy, it will further impoverish the small scale sector and more and more Nigerians would be thrown out of work because they are usually the first victims when the employer cannot pass on additional production costs."
NLC appeals Ukeje’s verdict
Meanwhile, the Congress, in its 14-page notice of appeal is praying the superior court to restrain the Federal Government from increasing the prices of petroleum products or re-introducing the N1.50k fuel tax pending the determination of the appeal before it. The NLC is also asking for an order of stay of execution of the entire judgment of Justice Ukeje pending the determination of the case.
Justice Ukeje had on September 21, this year delivered judgment in a nine-month old dispute bordering on whether the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) could legally protest, via strike action, any inimical Federal Government policy on matters outside the purview of Trade Disputes Act (1990), outlawing general strike action by NLC.
The appeal was filed at the registry of the court by NLC’s lawyers, Messrs Femi Falana and Sina Oke.
Among the sundry issues being contended are:
*that the trial judge erred in law when she held that both in the Trade Union Act (cap 437) and the Trade Disputes (Cap432) laws of the federation of Nigeria 1990, I have searched in vain for the statutory creation or stsatutory functions of the President, NLC, I saw no provision relating to the NLC president. And I was shown no such law.
*the issue of the legality of the office of the President of the NLC was neither raised in the reliefs sought by the parties nor in the issues formulated by them;
*the lower court challenged the legality of the office of the president of NLC suo motu and proceed to declare same as illegal
The legal battle arose shortly after President Olusegun Obasanjo presented on December 18, 2003 the 2004 Appropriation Bill (otherwise known as National Budget) to the joint session of the National Assembly proposing among others to introduce N1.50k per litre fuel tax from January 1, 2004.
