The emergency meeting debated
extensively the implications of government's unilateral increase in prices of
petroleum products, noting government's disinclination for consultation on
issues of public interest and its obsession with protecting product marketers
at the expense of the Nigerian public. The meeting expressed concern about
government's neo-liberal policies which it considered a betrayal of its
electioneering promises and observed as follows:
During the electioneering campaign
last year, the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC),
Muhammadu Buhari, had promised that, if elected president, he would not
remove fuel subsidy if there was any at all;
After his election, President
Muhammadu Buhari had maintained that there was no subsidy in the petroleum
product price regime and that even if
there was, he did not see how its removal would be beneficial to the ordinary Nigerian, noting that the
slightest product price adjustment often leads to inflationary spiral and
unimaginable suffering for the people;
On January 18, 2016, the government
further allayed the fears of the Nigerian people by reducing the pump price of PMS to N86:50,
explaining that the reduction was in furtherance of the implementation of the
revised component of the Petroleum Products Pricing for PMS and kerosene;
The Minister of State for Petroleum
Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu had been speaking from both sides of his mouth.
Whereas last year, he had strongly canvassed for the removal of
"subsidy" in defiance of President Buhari, about a month ago, he claimed
the subsidy had been removed through his ingenuity and that Nigeria was
saving $1billion from this process;
Organized Labour wondered what has
informed government's sudden and dangerous policy summersault and its desperate
attempt to convince the public that Labour was part of the decision that led to
this price increase;
In view of the fact that the board of
the Petroleum Products Pricing
Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), which is statutorily vested with powers to recommend prices, has not been reconstituted, the price
variation announced by any officer of
the agency or outside the agency is not only ultra vires and illegal, it is a
criminal imposition on the citizenry;
The price hike from N86:50 to
N145, representing 67.63% increase, is
the height of insensitivity and impunity
as there was no previous consultation
with stake holders, especially the organized labour, or any justification for this reckless
decision other than the fact that government believes it is accountable to no
one;
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources declared that
marketers will have to source their dollars from the secondary market. The attendant pressure on the dollar
will lead to unimaginable rise in prices of commodities and other services thus
creating further hardship for the people. Due to the volatility of the black
market, organized labour doubts that government would be able to maintain PMS
pump price at N145 per litre were the hike acceptable or justifiable. At the
time the PMS pump price was fixed at N145, the exchange rate at the black
market was N320 to the Naira. Between Wednesday and today when the new pump
price was announced, the Naira has
further crashed against the dollar, first to N340 on Thursday, then N365 on Friday morning and N385 by close
of business on Friday, all in 48 hours! At this rate, we believe it will not
take long before the Naira becomes entirely useless against the dollar. It is
thus morally and economically suicidal to have tied the importation of products
to the secondary market exchange rate;
In view of the fact that in the past
five years, there has been no increase in salaries or wages or pensions in the face of devaluations, spiralling
inflation and other vagaries of the economy, this product price increase is
unrealistic, unaffordable, unacceptable and is thus rejected;
Government is unable to justify this
price increase other than the puerile explanation that marketers need to
recover their costs, without a thought for the aggregate or larger national
interest including the need for local refining and creation of jobs;
The government has remained
incalcitrant in spite of a subsisting court injunction on the issue of the
criminal increase in electricity tariff even in the face of ever-worsening
power supply situation;
From the foregoing, it is evident that
the neo-liberal forces in the government have taken over the government and we
should expect more inhumane policies which will further degrade the living
standard of the average Nigerian. The punitive electricity tariff and PMS
product prices may just be teasers;
The implications are costly and
far-reaching, with the first and most significant being that we have become
dependent on massive importation of refined products to meet our domestic needs
in contra-distinction to other OPEC members. Whereas most OPEC members
significantly meet their domestic needs through domestic refining by an average
of 80 per cent, Nigeria on the contrary, at the pace it is going, will continue
to rely on about 90 percent of imported refined products in the foreseeable
future;
And because we are dependent on
importation, the end-user price will
always be influenced or determined by external factors such as the cost of
refining abroad, transportation and others denominated in the dollar. As the
Naira continues to depreciate against the dollar, so will the woes of consumers
in Nigeria continue to increase, a situation the Marketers in classic greed
will exploit to their advantage;
Taking into account the utilitarian
value of petroleum products in Nigeria, all sectors are going to be negatively
affected by this mindless price increase as virtually all the stakeholders are
agreed that the most significant contributor to the astronomical cost of doing
business in Nigeria is the cost of energy.
NLC, TUC and other civil society
allies are not unaware of the positions taken by the Unions in the oil and Gas
Industry. A process of engagement will be put in place in order to ensure the success of the struggle to protect the
overall interest of the Nigerian people.
In consideration of all of the above,
we urge government to:
Revert to the old price regime in
order to reduce the suffering of the people and to consider this singular act
of mindless pump price increase as a betrayal of trust;
Revert to the pre-45 percent
electricity tariff increase, make meters available to consumers and stop
estimated billing;
Reconstitute the boards of PPPRA and
NNPC without further delay and give them their statutory right to function
alongside DPR in order to deepen the process of consultation, checks and
balances in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry;
Intensify the prosecution of all those
involved in subsidy scams with a view to recovery and sanctioning of the
culpable;
Put in place enhanced local refining
capacity within a specified period in
place of endless importation as an enduring solution to the perennial problem
of scarcity;
Reverse the entire deregulation and
privatization process which foists on the nation, private individuals as drivers
of the economy in contravention of the constitutional provision that says
government shall be the driver of the
economy and engage the organised labour in the process of negotiation on
key policy issues;
Wean itself from the overbearing
influence of the neo-liberal elements in its fold who have not only staged a coup but are determined to make
this government collapse even before the
end of its four-year tenure;
Uphold its electioneering promises to
Nigerians instead of subjecting them to
the vagaries of slavish policies such as full devaluation of the naira and
total removal of subsidy as enunciated
by the IMF and its agents in the system;
In the event government fails to
accede to these demands on or before 12 midnight on Tuesday, May17, 2016, the
Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress and their civil society
allies resolve to commence the following actions with effect from Wednesday,
May 18, 2016;
· Mobilize to the streets across the
country, ordinary and helpless Nigerians to whom they owe the duty of
protection;
· Shut down all Banks, Sea and Airports,
Government and private offices as well as Markets.
·
Commence indefinite nationwide
strike action.
· Fight/resist the machinations and
cruelties of the neo-liberal forces in the government as part of the process of
saving the government from itself and the generality of Nigerians from slavery.
Nigerian are therefore advised to
stock sufficient food items that will last for a while for the prosecution of
the current struggle against neo-liberal agenda in Nigeria.
For and on behalf of Nigeria Workers,
Civil society allies and the Masses;
Comrade Ayuba Wabba, mni.
President, NLC.
Comrade Bobboi Kaigama.
President, TUC
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