• TUC opts out, ASUU urges members to
protest
• Buhari had no option outside new price
regime, says VP
• Govt sets six months to present new
minimum wage
• Senate seeks speedy provision of
palliatives
Despite the order yesterday of the
National Industrial Court sitting in
Abuja stopping the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union
Congress (TUC) from embarking on the
planned strike over the increase in fuel
price, the labour unions have insisted
on going ahead with the action
beginning today.
The Federal Government last week
increased the price of fuel from N86.50
to N145 per litre. Consequently,
organised labour unions threatened to
commence a nationwide strike from
today unless the situation is reversed.
Efforts at a resolution of the crisis
between the leadership of the NLC and
the government , including a special ad
hoc committee set up by the House of
Representatives to avert the strike
ended in a deadlock.
There were indications that the
insistence of government on selling
petrol at N145 per litre and taking
labour unions before the NIC may have
hardened Labour’s resolve to go ahead
with the strike.
Indeed, as the NLC was holding its
emergency National Executive Council
(NEC) meeting at the Labour House,
around 2:00p.m. yesterday, information
filtered in that the Minister of Justice
and Attorney General of the Federation,
Abubakar Malami, had approached the
court to declare the strike illegal.
This jolted the members of the NEC
who expressed dismay at the turn of
events and resolved to proceed on the
industrial action.
Not only did they move a motion
stopping the President of Congress,
Ayuba Wabba and his team from
attending a scheduled meeting with the
House of Representatives, but suggested
that Labour should also boycott a
meeting slated with the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation (SGF),
David Lawal, which was scheduled to
hold at 3:00p.m.
Indeed, the NEC meeting of the NLC
ended around 5:00p.m. and they
headed for the House of
Representatives meeting after which
they planned to attend the one with the
SGF and his team.
Also yesterday, Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo, declared that even though
President Muhammadu Buhari did not
believe that the prices of petroleum
products should go up, he had no
option in the recent increase in the
price of the petrol just announced.
Osinbajo, who spoke at the at the
public presentation of Anatomy of
Corruption in Nigeria: Issues,
Challenges & Solutions, a collection of
essays edited by Yusuf O. Ali, SAN,
asserted that “a lot of the problems
associated with the refineries are
corruption-related.”
The Senate rose from a one-hour
closed-door meeting over the fuel issue,
calling on the Executive to speedily
provide palliatives to cushion the
effects of the price increase.
The closed-door session which was
presided over by the Deputy Senate
President, Ike Ekweremadu, also called
on organised labour and other
stakeholders to show commitment to
resolving the issues in order not to
jeopardise the economy . He said that
the Senate sympathised with ordinary
people over the hardships they are
going through.
Also, former Minister of Petroleum,
Chief Philip Asiodu, has called for
‘structured dialogue.’ He urged the
Nigerian workers union to exercise
patience and allow room for proper
education and enlightenment of
Nigerians on the issue.
According to Asiodu, the reason the
country continues to battle with the
subsidy crisis over the years is that
Nigerians have not been adequately
educated on the issue and
unfortunately at every opportunity
when the issue could have been
resolved, it has always ended up being
politicised.
Asiodu who spoke with The Guardian
on phone said: “There is no point
adding more pains to Nigerians by
calling for strike but more dialogue
should be done to enable Nigerians to
see reason why the oil sector should be
deregulated to break the cartels of
those benefiting from the subsidy.”
Similarly, the Petroleum and Natural
Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria
(PENGASSAN) and Nigeria Union of
Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers
(NUPENG) have urged the Federal
Government to engage with
stakeholders in the oil and gas sector
and work out a clear direction on how
to reinvest the gains of fuel price
regulation in the economy.
In a statement issued at the end of the
joint National Executive Council (NEC)
meeting held in Calabar, and made
available to The Guardian, yesterday,
PENGASSAN and NUPENG are of the
view that price deregulation has its
benefits in the immediate and near
future with 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 the National President of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU), Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi has
mobilised members of the union for
strike to force the Federal Government
to revert the pump price from N145 to
N86.50k
In a letter sent to members of the
congress nationwide and read at the
University of Ibadan ( UI) Chapter by its
branch Chairman, Dr. Deji Omole, the
university teachers expressed their
readiness to join in the protest against
government’s policy.
ASUU president in the letter entitled
“Increase in pump price of Premium
Motor Spirit to N145 per litre: Proposal
for Joint Action with NLC” said
members are called upon to join in the
protest against the fuel price increase
called by the Nigeria Labour Congress
( NLC).
Ogunyemi anchored the position on
“delayed, partially paid and in most
cases unpaid salaries for a number of
months by state, federal and local
governments, disguised retrenchment
of workers, especially by state
governments, in the name of
verification exercise and endless hunt
for ghost workers and heavy taxation.”
At a meeting between the NLC, the
Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, (SGF) Babachir Lawal, and
Governor Adams Oshiomole with
leadership of NUPENG, Electricity
Workers Union and their own allies,
Edo State Governor Oshiomole
appealed to the union leaders to see
reasons with government’s decisions to
increase the price of petrol.
When the meeting ended, the SGF told
reporters that the deliberations were
fruitful even though the meeting was
also adjourned.
But the Executive Secretary of the
Electricity Workers Union, Joe Ajaero,
speaking on behalf of the leadership of
the unions, disassociated themselves
from the proposed strike.
Speaking after the NLC team staged a
walkout on the meeting, the President
of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, said the
discussions did not meet the mandate
given to the NLC negotiation team by
the congress’ relevant organs.
He said: “The discussions did not meet
the mandate given to us by our organs.
The minimum wage issue is an
auxiliary issue which cannot be tied to
the price hike. Certainly, the strike
action is going to take effect from
12:00a.m. Wednesday morning.”
But Lawal said the TUC had agreed with
government proposal and had
suspended its proposed strike . He
added that agreement was reached with
TUC on three items which include:
revisit of the palliatives as contained in
the 2016 budget; revisit of the
minimum wage with a 15-man technical
committee to report back to the main
committee within six months and the
reconstitution of the board of the
Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory
Agency (PPPRA) within two weeks.
He hinted that the 15-man technical
committee which draws its membership
from labour and government would be
chaired by the government
representative and that the secretariat
would be hosted by the government.
Lawal also said government had similar
agreements with the Joe Ajaero faction
of the NLC.
On the position of the NLC, the SGF
explained that the Wabba-led group
insisted on reduction of the N145 per
litre petrol price before negotiating
with government which led to the
breakdown of negotiation.
He declared that owing to the pullout
of the TUC and Ajaero’s group from the
strike, workers are expected to be at
their duty posts today.
Malami (SAN) had through a motion ex-
parte, approached the NIC asking it to
stop the planned strike by the
respondents, NLC and TUC which was
granted by the President of the Court,
Justice Babatunde Adejumo.
“The defendants are hereby restrained
from carrying out the threat contained
in their communique issued on May 14,
pending the hearing and determination
of the motion on notice filed on May 16.
“It is the order of this court that status
quo be maintained as at May 17”, the
judge ruled.
Justice Adejumo also ordered that the
processes in the case be served on the
respondents within 24 hours and that
proof of service be filed in the court.
The court further held that none of the
parties shall engage in any act, conduct,
overtly, covertly on the matter pending
the hearing and determination of the
motion on notice.
Justice Adejumo however, transferred
the hearing of the substantive case to
another judge of the court on the
ground that he would be engaged at the
National Judicial Council when the
matter would be due for hearing.
He noted that he would prefer that the
dispute be resolved amicably and as
such, he was constrained to issue the
ex parte order because the respondents
were not yet before him.
He added that he granted the order to
make sure that people were not
subjected to avoidable hardship.
“I decided to take this case this
morning because it is on an issue that
will affect everybody. I don’t want
people to be subjected to hardship.
There will be scarcity of foods, people
may die, students will engage in all
sorts of activities. This is why I have to
grant this order”, he held.
Earlier, while moving the application,
the AGF submitted that it was in the
nation’s interest to stop NLC from
shutting down the economy over the
increase in price of fuel.
He cited Section 14 of the 1999
Constitution as amended to justify his
application to stop the strike.
He further argued that no amount of
damages could serve as compensation if
NLC was allowed to shut down the
economy and that the balance of
convenience was in favour of the
government.
He however, asked the court to
determine whether the respondents
have complied with the laid down
conditions precedent for embarking on
strike and whether indeed and in fact,
the basis for which the respondents’
total closure of the economy can be
justified.
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