Nigeria Labor Congress Orders Buhari To Reverse Pump Price In 3 Days Or Face Indefinite Strike

The Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) has ordered the federal government to revert to the original price of petrol by Tuesday next week or face indefinite strike from workers. Addressing the press after it's National Working Committee meeting in Abuja today, NLC leaders also urged asks Nigerians to stockpile food ahead of the protest against fuel subsidy removal.

The emergency meeting debated extensively the implications of government's unilateral increase in prices of petroleum products, noting government's disinclination for consultation on issues of public interest and its obsession with protecting product marketers at the expense of the Nigerian public. The meeting expressed concern about government's neo-liberal policies which it considered a betrayal of its electioneering promises and observed  as follows:

During the electioneering campaign last year, the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress ( APC ),  Muhammadu  Buhari, had promised  that, if elected president, he would not remove fuel subsidy if there was any at all;

After his election, President Muhammadu Buhari had maintained that there was no subsidy in the petroleum product price regime and that  even if there was, he did not see how its removal would be beneficial to  the ordinary Nigerian, noting that the slightest product price adjustment often leads to inflationary spiral and unimaginable suffering for the people;

On January 18, 2016, the government further allayed the fears of the Nigerian people by  reducing the pump price of PMS to N86:50, explaining that the reduction was in furtherance of the implementation of the revised component of the Petroleum Products Pricing for PMS and kerosene;

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu had been speaking from both sides of his mouth. Whereas last year, he had strongly canvassed for the removal of "subsidy" in defiance of President Buhari, about a month ago, he claimed the subsidy had been removed through his ingenuity and that Nigeria was saving  $1billion from this process;

Organized Labour wondered what has informed government's sudden and dangerous policy summersault and its desperate attempt to convince the public that Labour was part of the decision that led to this price increase;

In view of the fact that the  board of the Petroleum Products Pricing  Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), which is statutorily vested with powers  to recommend prices,  has not been reconstituted, the price variation  announced by any officer of the agency  or outside the agency is  not only ultra vires and illegal, it is a criminal imposition on the citizenry;

The price hike from N86:50 to N145,  representing 67.63% increase, is the height of  insensitivity and impunity as there  was no previous consultation with stake holders, especially the organized labour,  or any justification for this reckless decision other than the fact that government believes it is accountable to no one;

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources declared that marketers will have to source their dollars from the secondary market. The attendant pressure on the dollar will lead to an unimaginable rise in prices of commodities and other services thus creating further hardship for the people. Due to the volatility of the black market, organized labour doubts that government would be able to maintain PMS pump price at N145 per litre were the hike acceptable or justifiable. At the time the PMS pump price was fixed at N145, the exchange rate at the black market was N320 to the Naira. Between Wednesday and today when the new pump price was announced,  the Naira has further crashed against the dollar, first to N340 on Thursday,  then N365 on Friday morning and N385 by close of business on Friday, all in 48 hours! At this rate, we believe it will not take long before the Naira becomes entirely useless against the dollar. It is thus morally and economically suicidal to have tied the importation of products to the secondary market exchange rate;

Given the fact that in the past five years, there has been no increase in salaries or wages or pensions  in the face of devaluations, spiralling inflation and other vagaries of the economy, this product price increase is unrealistic, unaffordable, unacceptable and is thus rejected;

Government is unable to justify this price increase other than the puerile explanation that marketers need to recover their costs, without a thought for the aggregate or  larger national interest including the need for local refining and creation of jobs;

The government has remained incalcitrant  in spite of a subsisting court injunction on the issue of the criminal increase in  electricity tariff even in the face of ever-worsening power supply situation;

From the foregoing, it is evident that the neo-liberal forces in the government have taken over the government, and we should expect more inhumane policies which will further degrade the living standard of the average Nigerian. The punitive electricity tariff and PMS product prices may just be teasers;

The implications are costly and far-reaching, with the first and most significant being that we have become dependent on the massive importation of refined products to meet our domestic needs in contra-distinction to other OPEC members. Whereas most OPEC members significantly meet their domestic needs through domestic refining by an average of 80 per cent, Nigeria on the contrary, at the pace it is going, will continue to rely on about 90 percent of imported refined products in the foreseeable future;

And because we are dependent on importation, the end-user price  will always be influenced or determined by external factors such as the cost of refining abroad, transportation and others denominated in the dollar. As the Naira continues to depreciate against the dollar, so will the woes of consumers in Nigeria continue to increase, a situation the Marketers in classic greed will exploit to their advantage;

Taking into account the utilitarian value of petroleum products in Nigeria, all sectors are going to be negatively affected by this mindless price increase as virtually all the stakeholders are agreed that the most significant contributor to the astronomical cost of doing business in Nigeria is the cost of energy.

NLC, TUC, and other civil society allies are not unaware of the positions taken by the Unions in the Oil and Gas Industry. A process of engagement will be put in place to ensure the success of the struggle to protect the overall interest of the Nigerian people.

In consideration of all of the above, we urge government to:

Revert to the old price regime to reduce the suffering of the people and to consider this singular act of mindless pump price increase as a betrayal of trust;

Revert to the pre-45 percent electricity tariff increase, make meters available to consumers and stop estimated billing; 

Reconstitute  the boards of PPPRA and NNPC without further delay and give them their statutory right to function alongside DPR in order to deepen the process of consultation, checks and balances in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry;

Intensify the prosecution of all those involved in subsidy scams with a view to recovery and sanctioning of the culpable;

Put in place enhanced local refining capacity within a specified period  in place of endless importation as an enduring solution to the perennial problem of scarcity;

Reverse the entire deregulation and privatization process which foists on the nation, private individuals as drivers of the economy in contravention of the constitutional provision that says government shall be the driver of the  economy and engage the organised labour in the process of negotiation on key policy issues;

Wean itself from the overbearing influence of the neo-liberal elements in its fold who have not  only staged a coup but are determined to make this government collapse even before  the end of its four-year tenure;

Uphold its electioneering promises to Nigerians   instead of subjecting them to the vagaries of slavish policies such as full devaluation of the naira and total removal of  subsidy as enunciated by the IMF and its agents in the system;

In the event government fails to accede to these demands on or before 12 midnight on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress and their civil society allies resolve to commence the following actions with effect from Wednesday, May 18, 2016;

·         Mobilize to the streets across the country, ordinary and helpless Nigerians to whom they owe the duty of protection;

·         Shut down all Banks, Sea and Airports, Government and private offices as well as Markets.

·         Commence indefinite nationwide strike action.

·         Fight/resist the machinations and cruelties of the neo-liberal forces in the government as part of the process of saving the government from itself and the generality of Nigerians from slavery.

Nigerian are therefore advised to stock sufficient food items that will last for a while for the prosecution of the current struggle against neo-liberal agenda in Nigeria.

For and on behalf of Nigeria Workers, Civil society allies, and the Masses;

Fayose Causing Confusion In Our Party, PDP Says

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party has accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State of causing confusion in the party.

It said the governor was behind the plan to hold the South-West zonal congress in Akure on Saturday despite the court order which asked the party to suspend the exercise.

National Secretary of the party, Prof. Wale Oladipo, stated this while speaking with journalists in Abuja on Saturday.

Oladipo said that the party had decided to obey the order of Justice Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court in Lagos, which restrained the party from going ahead with its zonal congress.

Apart from Akure, another faction of the party had planned to hold a separate zonal congress in Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State on the same day before the court order was served on the party’s national leadership.

The judge had ruled on an ex parte application brought before him on Thursday by the incumbent PDP South-West Zonal Secretary, Chief ‘Pegba Otemolu, and  restrained the party from going ahead with the scheduled congress.

The judge said the order would subsist until the final determination of Otemolu’s main suit.

But a day later, Fayose had stormed the national secretariat in Abuja, where he boasted that the congress would go ahead.

Oladipo said on Saturday that the National Legal Adviser of the party, Mr. Victory Kwon, had advised the party to obey the order of the court, which he said was served on him(Oladipo) and the party on Friday afternoon.

He also said that the National Chairman, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff who he said was not at the party secretariat on Friday when the order was served, had been notified.

Oladipo, who is the head of the party’s national secretariat said, “Governor Fayose is not a member of the National Working Committee of the PDP, but he’s causing confusion with his utterances.

“We are not dabbling into his government and he has no right to tell us how to run the party here. We have an order of the court stopping the congress. The governor cannot overrule the court.

“He should behave like other governors who do not dabble into the running of the party at the national level. He should learn from Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State who respect the party and the President of the country.

“The order of the court was even published in three national dailies and therefore, he can’t deny he was not aware.

“Our National Legal adviser who is the Chief Legal Adviser of the part, Mr. Victor Kwon, has advised that we comply with the order and we are complying with it. We are not above the law of the land.”

Oladipo said whatever result that come out of the convention would not be respected by the party as it would amount to waste of time and resources.

According to him, “Those who want to claim they want to organise any conference are doing that on their own, not on behalf of the party.

“Whatever come out of it would be null and void because we are not monitoring it just as the Independent National Electoral Commission has also been informed about the order of the court.

“So, the commission will also not be part of any illegality . We definitely won’t be part of it.”

Our correspondent gathered that INEC had been served with the court order and had directed its officers to stay away from fine congress.

But the governor said he was attending the congress as a loyal member of the party.

The governor, who spoke with through his Media Aide, Mr. Lere Olayinka, said he was only invited to attend the congress.

He said, “Fayose is not a member of the NWC, he isnot a member of the congress committee but he was invited as a member of the party.

“The congress committee is in Akure and that’s why we are attending. Oladipo is an interested party. The governor is interested in the smith-running of the party. The party is not run on the pages of the newspaper.

“If the national chairman said he was not aware of the court order as at Friday, why trying to stop the congress then? Fayose is not interested in any crisis.“

Fuel price hike: FG rolls out N500b palliatives to succour Nigerians

Fuel price hike: FG rolls out N500b palliatives to succour Nigerians

The Federal Government has unveiled measures which it said would  directly impact the lives of more than 8 million Nigerians in different social investment as provided in 2016 budget spending. This  it said ,will  provide succour and be a ready-made palliative to ordinary Nigerians.

It was designed to cushion the harsh  effectsof the last week fuel price hike.

This disclosure was made by the Senior Special Assistant for Media & Publicity to the President, Mr. Laolu Akande, in an interaction with the press in Abuja.

He gave new details and a breakdown of the interventions and palliatives, some of which he said would be starting in a matter of weeks thus,  the direct payment of N5000 monthly to one million extremely poor Nigerians for 12 months as provided for in the 2016 budget for which N$68.7billion has been appropriated.

There is also the direct provision of very soft loan -cash for market women, men and traders, including artisans and Agric workers.

This would be for a total of 1.76million Nigerians, without the requirement for conventional collateral. Some of the traders will likely get about N60, 000. A total sum of N140.3billion has already been appropriated for this in the budget

According to the statement , payment of between N23,000 to N30,000 per month to 500,000 unemployed graduates who would be trained, paid and deployed to work as volunteer teachers, public health officers and extension service workers among other responsibilities.

They would also be given electronic devices to empower them technologically both for their assignments and beyond just as 100,000 artisans would also be trained and paid N191.5billion has been set aside for this in the passed budget.

Also, at least 5.5 million Nigerian primary school children -ie starting first in 18 states-three per geopolitical zones-would be fed for 200 school days under the free Homegrown School Feeding Programme.

N93.1 billion has been appropriated for this in the 2016 budget.

One hundred thousand tertiary students in science technology engineering & maths (STEM), plus education will partake in the N5.8billion already provided for this education grant in the budget. This payment would also be paid directly to the students.

According to the Federal Government, when added together this year alone, more than 8 million Nigerians would be benefiting from the Social Investment budget.

Akande who works from the Office of the Vice President said the N500 billion social investment programmes of the Buhari administration is a ready made palliative to lift Nigerians from poverty and economic hardship.

“Long before now the Presidency has made adequate arrangements in the 2016 budget to ensure that Nigerians are lifted from poverty and hardship,” the spokesperson stated.

This will not only assuage the current pains arising from the new fuel pricing regime, but will provide ongoing social safety nets for over 8 million Nigerians this year alone, according to Akande.

He added that this is beside the jobs that would be created by the infrastructural projects that would be restored and the new ones that would soon be taking off.

Said he: “the Buhari presidency is keen to ensure that Nigerians are lifted and that if necessary on an ongoing basis palliatives measures would always been considered to address the conditions of the people.”