Despite appeals from some quarters, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has completed arrangements to embark on a nationwide protest as from Wednesday.
NLC President Joe Ajaero, who addressed reporters after a meeting of the Presidential Steering Committee on Palliatives at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, said the plan for a peaceful protest had not changed.
The meeting adjourned till noon Tuesday to continue discussions on how to ameliorate the harsh effects of the removal of fuel subsidy. The adjournment was meant to allow all parties have time to listen to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s broadcast.
Also read: Nationwide strike: NLC Dares FG, Demands Reversal Of Petrol Price
Ajaero dismissed fears that the protest could be hijacked by hoodlums, saying such had never happened in the history of workers’ protests.
He said it is the responsibility of security agencies to provide security for workers during a protest.
Reacting to the President’s plan to intervene on the exchange rate over inflation and high cost of gasoline prices, Ajaero said: “By the time you have a single market and you are not having anything that has a comparative advantage, your energy is import-driven, then, how are you going to control it? How are you going to control somebody that exchanged the dollar at about N900? Are you going to tell him to sell below the price?
“How are you going to tell even NEPA today, with the cost of production, not to increase tariff? Even the corn in the villages that was sold at N18,000 by February is about N56,000. How are you going to control it?”
But, the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, said some issues were settled during the closed-door meeting.
He also said the government was dealing with oil cabals that have brought the economy to its knees.
Gbajabiamila said: “We have been locked behind for a couple of hours. We had a good meeting. Issues were thrashed out on the situation in Nigeria today in terms of issues on government intervention on the situation in the country.
“We agreed to adjourn till tomorrow. As you know, Mr. President is making a national broadcast today. Based on what we anticipate that Mr. President will be telling Nigerians, we decided to adjourn the meeting till 12 p.m tomorrow (today) before labour can decide whether or not they want to continue with the protest on Wednesday.
“But we believe that after tonight’s broadcast, the President will speak to all the issues. He will roll out his interventions and, needless to say, we believe any reasonable person will tell you such at that point. There will be no need for any protest.”
On why the government did not roll out palliatives before announcing the stoppage of petrol subsidy, the Gbajabiamila said the previous government did not budget for subsidy and that President Tinubu was rolling out palliatives to cushion its effect on the people.
Asked whether the oil cabals are more powerful than the security agencies and government, he said: “Yes, they are, and that’s what government is dealing with. First of all, remove the subsidy. That’s the first step.”
The Senate Monday had called on the leadership of the NLC to suspend its planned nationwide strike scheduled to commence on 2 August over the removal of fuel subsidy.
The call for suspension of the strike was a sequel to a motion moved by Kawu Sumaila (NNPP, Kano South) at the plenary presided over by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
Also speaking, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, pleaded with the organised labour to give the administration some time to fix the economy.
He said, “The meeting was an opportunity for us to appeal to the labour leaders by extension Nigerians that we are facing difficulties and challenges that are not our making.
“We inherited a very bad situation. Most of the problems people are talking about are not a creation of this government.
“This government is barely two months old and since we have been facing these difficulties and challenges, we have a listening and engaging President, a president who will want to have a conversation and react.”
Present at Monday’s meeting were Ajaero, his counterpart from the TUC, Festus Osifo; the General Secretary of NLC, Emma Ugbaja; the TUC Secretary, Nuhu Toro and other members of the organised labour delegation including Prof. Sam Amadi.
On the FG’s side were the President’s Chief of Staff, Gbajabiamila; Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Kachollom Daju; the Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari; and the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, among others.
Also, the NLC National Assistant Secretary, Chris Onyeka, said, “Our protest is irreversible, and it is a mass protest. Remember that we did not issue the notice based on the other increases. Ours is based on the N617 price increase in Premium Motor Spirit. The Federal Government has to deal with that first.” (The Punch)
