The two months of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has further impoverished the Nigerian masses, reenacted dictatorship of the late Sani Abacha’s despotic era when his (Abacha) anti-people policies were designed to emasculate the downtrodden from the doorsteps of good life
By Miracle Egbo
Among the retinue of policies of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his two months in the office, only the removal of the fuel subsidy supposedly has caught the fancy of majority of Nigerians. For two months in the office, President Tinubu has increased the price of fuel, first, from N185 to N520, about two weeks after the price was hiked to N617 and still counting. It has been located in the premises of the presidency that since the spike of the fuel price that all the palliatives suggested by it are feeble, and there is no sign that the administration is anywhere near cushioning the effects of the removal of the fuel subsidy on the majority of Nigerians.
Smarting from the shock of the removal of the fuel subsidy and its attendant effects, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC under the leadership of Comrade Joe Ajaero threatened to embark on industrial action citing the hardship wrought on the workers and citizens alike by the removal of the fuel subsidy. Based on the threat issued by NLC, the administration of Tinubu first went to the Industrial Court to stop the NLC from embarking on the Industrial action, and subsequently called the organized labour for discussion on the best way to go in making sure that Nigerians are not suffered unnecessarily because of the fuel subsidy removal. Comrade Ajaero said in an interview with Arise Television shortly before labour went on street protest on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, that even when the discussion on the effect of the N520 was still ongoing, the administration of Tinubu irrespective of the negotiation allowed another hike in the price of the product which has collapsed whatever progress made in the first place. He said that the government has not at any time put any concrete measures in place to cushion the effects of the hike but went ahead to approve another hike, an attitude, the NLC leader said is a blatant disrespect for the spirit of negotiation initiated by it. “It is on record that the administration would only wake from its slumber whenever there is threat of industrial action because they are not sincere with some of the proposal they have offered as the way out of the problem. We are no fools not to know that that the administration does not in any way want to ameliorate the suffering of the poor masses because of the removal of the fuel subsidy”.
Comrade Ajaero said that in the nation-wide broadcast of President Tinubu on Monday, July 31, 2023, the address lacked substance on the practical ways to help the suffering of Nigerians especially workers. He said there was nowhere in the address that Tinubu made mention of how his government is going to fix the refineries in the country or to bring to book those who looted the oil money accruable from the subsidy regime. The Labour leader concluded that the only language that the administration of Tinubu understands is industrial action, and there no threat from the security operatives that would stop “us from embarking on the protest which is going to be indefinite until we are adhered to by the government of the day because they are not sincere at all in the first place, and we are not ready to risk being subjected to perpetual poverty by the anti-workers policies of the current administration”.
Reports orchestrated by this medium revealed that the protest which started nation-wide Wednesday, August 2, 2023 was successful except in Lagos where it was relatively successful. It was gathered that in days to come mores Nigerians are likely going to join the protest because the condition of living in the country is hellish and the government of the day is not anywhere near solving or providing solution to the hardship created by the removal of the fuel subsidy.
Comrade Ajaero further stated that the government of the day is not sincere because they are not saying or doing anything to fix the moribund refineries in the country. “Those issues included in the failure of previous governments to repair our national refineries and bring those behind the monumental subsidy sleaze to book. Today, these issues were swept under the carpet in President Tinubu’s speech. Nigerians wonder what has changed”?
“Finally, we wish to assure Nigerians that the Nigeria Labour Congress remains committed to matching discussions with government with the current realities of sufferings that Nigerians are going through. Until we see real commitment by government to do the needful to improve the lot of Nigerians and ameliorate the sufferings of workers and ordinary Nigerians are going through, we remain committed to continue with our struggle”
Information has it that for the first time, NLC achieved a successful protest across the nation especially in the northern part of the country. For instance, in Kano State, over 100 members of the Joint Action Front, JAF on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 1 and 2, took to the streets of Kano to protest against the increase in petrol pump price, electricity tariff and education tuition fees. Speaking after the peaceful protest, Dr. Dipo Fashina who is the National Coordinator of JAF, took a swipe at the Tinubu administration for introducing anti-people policies.
Fashina called on Nigerians to reject International Monetary Fund, IMF and World Bank policies of privatization and deregulation of the petroleum industry. According to him: “Government has a responsibility to make our refineries to work and build new ones in order to ensure the availability of petroleum products, petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel at cheaper and affordable prices to all”.
JAF called for “Total reversal of the capitalists’ policies of privatization and deregulation, which have been responsible for non-functioning of the refineries, looting by the government officials and fuel marketers through the importation and the subsidy fraud”. According to Fashina, “Government in obedience to Section 16 of the 1999 Constitution, on Economic Objectives, should respect the provisions, which stated that the economic system is not operated in such a manner as to permit the concentration of wealth or means of production and exchange in the hands of few individuals or of a group”.
“Unconditional implementation of a new national minimum living wage across board and payment of all outstanding allowances and arrears to all categories and adequate funding of public education at all levels”, JAF insisted.
Former Kaduna State Attorney General , Mark Jacob is livid with the speech of President Tinubu where he reel out palliatives for the Nigerian populace, adding that he had toed the same line of his predecessor that yielded no results instead inflicted more pains on majority of Nigerians.
“I am disappointed with the President’s speech. Nigeria is in trouble. We are back to Buhari era when money was thrown at unknown people without appropriation or accountability. We are operating a welfarist government without foundation. We are still thinking of distributing money to unknown people. Which data is President using? Who has thought this thing through? Which Constitution gives President power to distribute 50 per cent of nation’s money without appropriation? We are back to primitive era when the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs distributed money without appropriation. Where does it happen in the world? No record of returns on investment. I never see anybody in my community that benefited from the largesse of anchor borrowers, trader monies etc”.
“You wake up, you remove fuel subsidy. You want to distribute money not appropriated. Government is still moving in the wrong direction. To who do you distribute N500 billion, yet National Assembly is not raising questions. Who gave the President power to appropriate money without National Assembly approval? The woman of Humanitarian Ministry ought to be in detention yet Tinubu is saying nothing. You said you want to release money to farmers, which farmers, no record or data to show who the beneficiary farmers are. I am very, very empathic that Nigeria is in trouble. I am disappointed with the President’s speech.
“Any effort to address the hardship we are facing today without addressing the issue of refinery cannot work. Tinubu goes about it as if the rehabilitation of refineries does not matter. He did not have plans on ground to cushion the effect and the shock that is till ravaging the entire sector. He should have started with an apology to Nigerians for not having any plan down, he only scored a cheap point by announcing fuel subsidy removal. The President should not be at liberty to dispense money without National Assembly input”, Jacob advised.
As Nigerians prepare for the protest that would take time to abate, an average Nigerian is waiting to see what would be the effect of the protest , and how the government of the day is going to react to the continued increase in the prices of the petroleum products in the days to come.
However, in a panic mood, the presidency called a meeting with the organized Labour on Wednesday, August 2 in the middle of the protest where President Tinubu was said to have made far reaching promises on how he intends to cushion the sufferings of the populace occasioned by the fuel subsidy removal. Few hours after the meeting, NLC through its leader, Ajaero said that the organized labour has no choice but to go back to the trenches if the Federal government fails to withdrawal Contempt of Court proceedings instituted by the government against the Labour unions. According to statement credited to Ajaero, “After seven days if the case is not withdrawn, the Union has no choice but to embark on total industrial action that would ground the country. As at the time of filing this report, Federal Government has not withdrawn the case or made any move in that regard. Investigation revealed that the contempt of Court proceedings against the organized labour has weakened whatever negotiation going with the government and the organized labour in the country.
According to an insider at the meeting between NLC and government, the Managing Director and CEO of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, Mele Kyari said at the meeting that one of the refineries would be functional by December 2023 as one of the measures of the government to make sure the price of the commodity is reduced drastically. But the snag in such promise is that hitherto such promises were made and never fulfilled, would this be different from other promises?, many Nigerians wont to ask.
