Labour has a new year message for the federal government and it’s no good news.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says the masses will not accept any further increase in the pump price of fuel in the name of subsidy removal. The body also urged workers and the citizens to prepare for total war against the fuel price hike.
NLC President Ayuba Wabba issued the warning in his new year message to workers. In the message, Wabba fired shots at Zamfara, Taraba, Benue, Kogi, Cross River, Abia and Imo states for failing to implement the N30,000 minimum wage that took effect on April 18, 2019.
In the message titled, ‘The Year 2022 Felicitations: Keeping Our Hopes And Aspirations Alive In The New Year,’ NLC directed the seven states to commence indefinite strikes to force their governors into paying the new wage.
NLC vowed to lead nationwide protests if economic hardship continues in the Year 2022. The last time a mass demonstration almost grounded the country to a halt was in 2012 when Nigerians protested against the government’s decision to stop fuel subsidy payments.
NCL’s new year message reads in part:
“Still, the government is not relenting in its determination to push through further increases in the pump price of petrol and which as usual had been dubbed as ‘removal of petrol subsidy’. Well, Organized Labour has made its position clear on this matter.
“We have told the government in very clear terms that Nigerians have suffered enough and will not endure more punishment by way of further petrol and electricity price increases.
“Our position in this regard is predicated on four major grounds. First is our concern on the deceit and duplicity associated with the politics of ‘petrol price increase’ by successive Nigerian governments. The truth is that the perennial increase by the government in the pump price of petrol is actually a transfer of government failure and inability to effectively govern to the poor masses of our country.
“We are talking of the failure of government to manage Nigeria’s four oil refineries and inability to build new ones more than thirty years after the last petrochemical refinery in Port Harcourt was commissioned; the failure to rein in smuggling; and the failure to determine empirically the quantity of petrol consumed in Nigeria.
“The shame takes a gory dimension with the fact that Nigeria is the only OPEC country that cannot refine her own crude oil.
“During the negotiations that trailed the last increase in petroleum prices, Organized Labour made a cardinal demand on government which is that it must take immediate steps to revamp and rehabilitate Nigeria’s refineries.
“A technical committee was set up to monitor progress in this regard. As we all know, the work of the Technical Committee like our abandoned public refineries has ground to a halt and further negotiations with the government adjourned sine die for nearly one year now.
“As a responsible social partner, we have at different times called on the government to show us what they are doing in response to our demands but silence is the response we get.”
