Subsidy removal: NLC accuses FG of attempt to sabotage Labour

Friday, 04 November 2011

Written by  Ime Umoren

NLC President, Abdulwaheed OmarFile

The Nigeria Labour Congress has accused the Federal Government of hatching a plot to divide the labour leaders for resisting its proposal to remove subsidy on fuel with effect from January 2012. It also accused the government of deliberately refusing to discuss the issue of subsidy removal with organised labour.

The Acting General Secretary, NLC, Mr. Owei Lakemfa, who said this in Lagos on Tuesday, reiterated that the congress was not averse to a discussion with the government or any of its agencies on the issue of subsidy removal.

Lakemfa said, "The government is trying to break up the labour union to have different views on the proposed fuel subsidy removal and we will not accept this.

"The Federal Government has not invited or consulted with the union on the issue of petroleum products."

He explained that deregulation and removal of subsidy on fuel was a national issue that must be handled with care in order to avoid chaos and social unrest in the country.

The NLC scribe called for a roundtable discussion where the government and labour would sit down and discuss extensively on the policy.

He said, "As at now, the Federal Government has not consulted labour on its plan to remove subsidy on fuel.

"NLC is not averse to any discussion because we are in the industry of negotiation and collective bargaining, and we are the mouthpiece of the Nigerian people.

"If NLC does not champion this cause, other people will take up the issue and fight like it happened in Egypt, and this will have social consequences."

Lakemfa said that labour had already commenced the sensitisation of workers and the masses to the need to resist government’s plan to remove fuel subsidy, adding that the policy was not going to be anything different from previous exercises by the government.

According to him, the Nigerian workers and masses have never benefited from the various policies of the present administration. Lakemfa said the result of such policy reforms had been closure of factories and job losses. wIn the same vein, the Vice-President, NLC, Mr. Joe Ajaero, said, "Nigerians have been deceived that deregulation will improve the standard of living of the people, but let us review that of kerosene and diesel and see how Nigerians are suffering from their deregulation.

"If the refineries are repaired and we start to process the oil in Nigeria, a greater percentage of the cost of production will be removed automatically."

President Goodluck Jonathan in a covering letter to his government’s Medium Term Expenditure Framework sent to the National Assembly recently had proposed the removal of fuel subsidy beginning from January 2012.

The President said about N1.2tn would be saved from the proposal and that the amount would be invested in providing "safety nets" for the masses but the proposal has become controversial with major sectors of the society kicking against it.

The NLC and Trade Union Congress have also threatened to call workers out on a prolonged battle if the government should go ahead with the move.

SOURCE: Punch Newspaper, 4 November 2011. http://punchontheweb.com