The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said that Nigerians have lost their peace of mind following the ‘subsidy is gone forever’ speech by President Bola Tinubu during his May 29, 2023, inauguration.
The union accused the Federal Government of continuously treating Nigerians as slaves and conquered people which it treats with impunity without any concern on the consequences.
This was made known on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, in a communiqué jointly signed by NLC’s National President, Joe Ajaero and Secretary-General, Emmanuel Ugboaja, in Abuja, at the end of its Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting which was held on Tuesday.
The NLC in its statement faulted the Tinubu administration over its “unfriendly” policies, noting that the Federal Government has shown enormous disdain and contempt for the Nigerian people and has declared a war of attrition on Nigerian workers and masses.
FG has declared war on Nigerian workers
- The statement from NLC partly reads, ‘’The Central Working Committee of the NLC in session noted unfortunately that the Federal Government has shown enormous disdain and contempt for Nigerian people and workers having acted and continued to act without regard to the welfare and cries of the citizenry.
- “That Government seems to have declared a war of attrition on Nigerian workers and masses without any care leaving them to the throes of hopelessness and helplessness; the Federal Government has refused to put in place safeguards to protect Nigerians from the harsh economic situation that its policies have inflicted on the people rather it has decided to insult the sensibilities of Nigerian masses by offering us N8,000 per family and offering themselves N70bn.
- “That the Federal Government has frustrated and abandoned its own committee which was a product of social dialogue between the government and workers’ organisations in the country. While the committee has not met, the government embarked on unilateral actions and programmes.
- “That since Mr. President’s “subsidy is gone forever” speech on the inauguration day; the peace of mind of Nigerians has gone; decent living has gone increasing despair of unimaginable dimensions. That the federal government has continued to treat Nigerians as slaves and conquered people which it treats with impunity without any concern on the consequences.
- “That the Federal Government has continued in an unholy mission of robbing the poor to pay the rich in Nigeria as typified by its continued frustration of the activation of the agreed alternatives to Premium Motor Spirit and new hike in prices of PMS to N617 per litre.’’
Speaking further, the NLC noted that the Federal Government has continued to promote the “gang-up of the ruling elite against the Nigerian people and workers; churn out without relenting policies designed to emasculate Nigerian workers and people via not just increases in PMS prices with its spiralling effect but also increases in VAT, increases in school fees across all publicly-owned secondary and tertiary institutions of learning.”
- The NLC added, “The NNPCL (Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited), has turned itself into the forces of demand and supply and fixes the price of Petroleum products while mouthing deregulation.
- “That Government’s conduct suggests it does not intend to commit itself to the MoU it signed with NLC and TUC (Trade Union Congress).’’
Threatens nationwide strike on August 2
On its next steps, the NLC noted that Nigerians are outraged and that it had received pressure from Nigerians who have been calling on it to lead a national strike.
The NLC thereafter demanded “the immediate reversal of all anti-poor policies of the federal government including the recent hike in PMS price, increase in public school fees, the release of the eight months withheld Salary of university lecturers and workers”.
Others include the immediate inauguration of the Presidential Steering Committee.
The congress also noted that it had reached a breaking point hence it would, “give the Federal Government a seven-day ultimatum within which to meet all our demands and to embark on a nationwide action beginning Wednesday the 2nd of August, 2023 to compel the government to reverse its anti-poor and anti-workers policies.”
I think it’s a good thing for fuel subsidy to be gone forever. However, the big question is whether this administration can be trusted to convert the huge savings into something that would benefit the people in the medium to long term in a sustainable manner. In channeling the savings for the common good, adequate implementation and monitoring is key, else the funds would fizzle out into private pockets and the old problems would remain, like we’ve seen in the agro sector for decades now, where despite all the fortunes spent by past administrations, we are still thousands of miles away from self sufficiency in staple food production, and much less a top agro product exporter.
NLC is a toothless bulldog. The FG now knows how to deal with them. We, Nigerians, don’t trust them anymore
The issue of fuel subsidy removal has always been a controversial one. Everyone knows that it was necessary, but anytime removing it comes up, there is always attack. The question is should the subsidy have been removed when the refineries are actually functional? But that would mean waiting for a long time. So perhaps Tinubu’s ripping off of the bandaid so quickly was actually for the best. Time will tell.