BREAKING NEWS, Politics
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The Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress wants the federal government to solve the current power and fuel crisis in the country to avoid losing credibility in the eyes of Nigerians and causing workers to stage a strike
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Apr 18, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT |
WITH the lingering fuel scarcity in the country and its attendant hardship on Nigerians, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, have said that the President Muhammadu Buhari led-administration is fast losing credibility in the eyes of Nigerians.
Ayuba Wabba, president, NLC, said with the current fuel scarcity, the federal government under Buhari is becoming unpopular with Nigerians. “We dare say that one of the fastest ways for government to lose its credibility before the ordinary citizenry is scarcity of petroleum products because the combined effects of scarcity of petroleum products and low power supply create misery for the people, as well as have a damning impact on travel, jobs, productivity and the economy as a whole,” he said.
The NLC president, who spoke after the Central Working Committee, CWC, meeting in Abuja, on Wednesday, April 6, which highlighted the sufferings that Nigerians have undergone as a result of persistent scarcity of petroleum products and arbitrary increase in electricity tariff even at the expense of inconsistent payment of salaries to workers, also resolved to stage a one-day national strike to protest these irregularities.
Wabba insisted that the tariff increase was illegal, unfair, unjustifiable and an exploitation of the already exploited Nigerians. He said that the CWC will agree on a day to embark on the strike, because several actions promised by the federal government to checkmate the tariff increment have not been implemented. He noted that the CWC meeting came at a time Nigerians are feeling the heat and harsh realities of the economic crisis in the country. He said the disposition of government has clearly shown that it is pitched against the people, which it should ordinarily take their welfare as priority.
According to Wabba, plans by government to increase fuel prices, even when it has not been able to provide the product adequately, was an illegality. “The response to the prevailing economic situation by all tiers of government in the country has been a further source of worry for many Nigerians, especially Nigerian workers, who are the first historically to be put up for sacrifice each time the political elite mismanages our economy,” he said.
The NLC president also criticised Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, over purported plans to increase fuel price. “When the first incident of fuel scarcity occurred under this government, we put it to sabotage and urged the government to deal decisively with the saboteurs but with an eye to enhanced local production as an enduring solution.
“When the second incident happened, we similarly reasoned the same way. However, with the latest incident of prolonged scarcity and confession by the minister of state for petroleum resources that scarcity will persist till May as he is not a magician, regular scarcity might as well be a familiar feature, and we would do well to brace ourselves for long spells, except government does the needful.
“We must, however, make the point that spells of scarcity will not be acceptable to labour and other Nigerians because the human and economic costs are unimaginable. While we appreciate government’s effort to make available on an uninterruptible basis, such effort must be seen to be result yielding and immediate.
“Because of the place of petroleum products in the lives of the citizenry, its scarcity even for a day generates ripple and crippling effects. We called on the government to do the needful by demonstrating the will and capacity to restore sanity, discipline and transparency to the downstream sector of the industry. We demand the diligent prosecution of all those found wanting in the distribution of fuel products, cold or fresh cases,” Wabba said.
On the power crisis, he said the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has deliberately ignored the subsisting court order, which barred any increase in electricity tariff. “The due process in the extant laws for such an increment was not followed in consonance with Section 76 of the Power Sector Reform Act, 2005. There has been no significant improvement in service delivery coupled with the fact that most consumers are not metered in accordance with the signed privatisation Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, of November 21, 2013, which stipulates that within 18 months gestation period all consumers are to be metered. The increment, at this time, negates the present biting prevailing economic recession vis-a-vis an attempt to further impoverish the poor masses.”
Similarly, the TUC bemoaned the unpleasant situation in the country, which has stifled the economy and claimed thousands of jobs due to closure of companies. The trade union in a statement yesterday, said this was no time to shift blames as Nigerians voted for the present government because they desired change. “We need to see that change now. The government should speedily put an end to the fuel crisis situation, even if it means stepping on sacred toes.”
The statement signed by Bobboi Kaigama, president, TUC, observed that apart from the biting scarcity of fuel, the dearth of foreign exchange has also made it impossible for firms to repay foreign loans and import needed materials for production. “Our role as a labour centre is multifaceted. We are saddled with the responsibility of functioning as change agents and watchdogs of both government and private business and ensuring better welfare for workers. Of late, our desk has been inundated with industrial issues, redundancy complaints, anti-labour practices, casualisation of workers, mass sack of workers, among others.
“All these are caused because of unfriendly business environment. For instance, the food and beverage sector alone in the last few months has lost over 500 employees, the naira currently exchanges for N197 to a dollar at the official window and N320 at the parallel market and firms that borrowed dollar-denominated loans are facing the risk of foreclosure on assets pledged as collateral and loss of credibility among creditors because of exchange rate fluctuations,” the statement said.
On power outage, the union accused the power distribution companies of defrauding consumers while the government consistently looks the other way. It demanded that Discos stop sending estimated bills to Nigerians. “How else do we explain the fact that Nigerians are paying for services not rendered? We recall that the Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola, prior to the 2015 elections, said any government that cannot fix power in six months is irresponsible.
“Should we now say that both the minister and the present administration are irresponsible? Or shall we now conclude that this administration is conspiring with operators in the power sector to rip Nigerians off? Equally worrisome is the lingering fuel scarcity that appears to defy all solutions in a country that is the sixth largest oil producer in the world. We have become a laughing stock among the comity of nations. The man-hour lost in traffic jams due to long fuel queues has become unimaginable. As it stands now, virtually all sectors of the economy are groaning in serious and unbearable pain.”
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