NLC and TUC REACTS TO THE RESOLUTIONS OF THE HOUSE OF REPS ON FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL

8^th January, 2012

Press Statement

HOUSE MOTION IS THE SOLUTION TO THE FUEL PRICE INCREASE CRISES

The Labour Movement and its allies highly commend the Federal House of Representatives for its patriotic motion demanding that the Jonathan administration immediately suspends the astronomical increasing in the price of PMS (petrol).

This motion if adopted by the Executive will immediately douse the explosive tension in the country and restore it to its pre-January 1, 2012 normalcy.

We commend the House and its exemplary leadership for rising to the demands of the times, and in a bipartisan manner, seeking to steer the country away from a path that may have disastrous consequences.

The House of Representatives displayed exemplary leadership in not just cutting short its break, but also meeting on a Sunday.  If other arms of governance work with the exemplary speed, seriousness, sensitivity and patriotic zeal as the House of Representatives did today; our country would be a far better place to live.

The Labour Movement calls on the Senate to also rise up to the expectations of Nigerians by concurring with the House motion. 

We hope and pray that President Goodluck Jonathan will listen to the loud voice of the Nigerian people which this motion has further ventilated by immediately suspending the fuel price hikes and allowing dialogue and consultation on the issue of fuel subsidy removal.

The Strikes and Protests Must  go on

The Labour Movement reiterates that the indefinite strikes, rallies and mass protests will commence across the country tomorrow Monday 9^th January 2012.  We ask Nigerians to disregard the disinformation by the Jonathan administration and its surrogates claiming that Labour has had a rethink on the strike.

We reiterate that the right to peaceful protest is a fundamental one which no institution or force can abridge.

The Labour Movement commends Nigerians in the diaspora for their support and continued protests. We also commend the Nigerians in the United States who plan to protest tomorrow morning against the fuel price hikes in front of the World Bank headquarters in Washington.  The Breton Wood Institutions which include the IMF and the World Bank will not be allowed to dictate anti-people policies such as fuel subsidy removal to the Nigerians.

 

Owei Lakemfa                                          John Kolawole                                                                                     

NLC Acting General Secretary                  TUC Secretary General

Labour/Civil Society - TAKE OFF POINT FOR MASS PROTEST IN ABUJA

ANNOUNCEMENT ABUJA RESIDENTS! THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS (NLC), TRADE UNION CONGRESS (TUC) AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS INFORMS THE PUBLIC THAT BERGER ROUNDABOUT IS THE MEETING POINT FOR THE ANTI-FUEL PRICE INCREASE MASS PROTESTS EVERYDAY AT 8AM FROM MONDAY JANUARY 9, 2012. BE THERE AT BERGER ROUNDABOUT! Signed: Labour/Civil Society Coalition

Press Statement PRESIDENT JONATHAN’S BROADCAST DOES NOT ADDRESS THE ISSUES

7^th January, 2012

  

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) listened to President Goodluck Jonathan’s broadcast to the nation  tonight.

The speech is undoubtedly due to the resistance of Nigerians to the unreasonable increase in PMS (petrol) prices and the planned national strikes scheduled to begin on Monday January 9, 2012.  So the Presiden having to address Nigerians, is the first gain of the planned protests.

But the President’s address follows the pattern of other documents (like the SURE Programme) by his administration; long in rhetorics and short on basic issues.  For instance, the major anchor of the broadcast is that salaries of political office holders are to be cut by 25 per cent.  But he failed to tell us how much this will amount to. Is this a mere symbolic gesture or a fundamental contribution to economic recovery?

He also talked about his administration holding meetings with transporters to reduce fares.  We see this as a populist statement that has no foundation in reality.  If a transporter who used to buy petrol at N65 per litre now buys it between N141 and N220, what appeal can be made to him not to increase his fares by a high percentage?  How do you “deregulate” the economy and hope to regulate transport fares by private operators?

In any case, transport fare is just one of the items that shot up. Prices of basic commodities like food have also increased, and there is a fuel price hike-engineered hyper inflation in the country.

The President should have reversed the price of PMS to N65 which would have automatically reduced rising tension in the country.

The President also promised the completion   of rail lines and infusion of buses in to the transport system.  It is like putting the chart before the horse; these measures should have been put in place before the astronomical increase in petrol price.

We reiterate that Nigerians cannot afford the high fuel prices and will not accept the hyper inflation this misguided policy has created.

President Jonathan lost a great opportunity in his broadcast by sticking to his guns; that the unreasonable increase in fuel prices will remain.

The Labour Movement and its allies on behalf of the Nigerian populace reiterate that the broadcast has changed nothing and that the indefinite strikes, rallies and mass protests scheduled to commence nationwide on Monday 9^thJanuary, 2012 will go on.

The will of the Nigerian people must prevail over that of any government in power.

Owei Lakemfa                                                        John Kolawole

NLC Acting General Secretary                             TUC Secretary  General