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| Cars queuing for fuel in a typical sight in Nigeria this year. |
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)
has said that it would begin a nationwide strike from next week should the
Federal Government fail to reverse the fuel price hike it announced earlier this
week.
The strike is to protest the 67%
increase of fuel which they claim will cause untold hardship for workers who
did not get a commensurate increase in minimum wages as earlier proposed by the
unions.
“If by midnight on Tuesday next
week the government fails to reverse the price of petrol to 86.50 naira per
litre, we will have no other option than to order workers to begin an
indefinite strike from Wednesday,” Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) general
secretary Peter Ozo-Eson told AFP. He said the decision was taken after a
meeting of both the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) — the two umbrella
organisations for Nigerian workers.
“We have directed our affiliates
and civil society allies to mobilise their members for the impending showdown
with government over this anti-people policy,” he said. Ozo-Esson said the
proposed strike was also to force government to reverse a recent hike in the
electricity tariff in the energy-starved country which generates just around
4,000 megawatts for a population of more than 170 million people. The unions
said businesses including banks, airports, seaports, markets and government
offices would be shut during the strike.
Interestingly, a statement from
oil workers union, NUPENG and PENGASSAN said they were in support of the
removal of subsidy by the FG which subsequently jerked fuel price to N145 from
N86.40 but only on the grounds that their minimum wage be increased to N90,000.
A communique at the end of the
meeting read:
The NEC-in-Session after an exhaustive deliberation of all these resultant effects, resolves that, there is an urgent need for a paradigm shift and a new direction in the management of new investment and income in the oil and gas industry, but with critical proviso, among which include:
• Government must ensure optimal performance of the existing refineries and also put in place machinery for the construction of new refineries in the country to ensure adequate production for domestic consumption and possibly export
• Immediate commencement of negotiation of minimum wage for workers across all cadres.
Nigeria raised the price of
petrol to 145 naira ($0.73) per litre on Wednesday after months of fuel
shortages caused by a foreign exchange shortage.
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