By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The leadership of Nigeria Labour Congess (NLC) has declared that its members will embark on a nationwide strike with effect from Wednesday, June 7 following the increase in petroleum pump price across the country.
This comes barely 24 hours after maritime workers across the country under the aegis of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) threatened to shut down all maritime firms over perceived poor treatment of their members by their employers, bordering on unresolved disputes about pay rise.
NLC President Joe Ajaero after an emergency meeting of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) in Abuja on Friday gave the state-owned oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited till Wednesday next week to revert to the old price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise referred to as petrol or have the workers to contend with.
Ajaero added that failure of the Federal Government to meet the ultimatum would attract an indefinite protest across the country.
Petroleum pump price has increased by over 150 percent following an announcement by President Bola Tinubu during his inaugural speech in which he declared that “fuel subsidy is gone”.
Tinubu said the era of subsidy payment on fuel has ended, adding that with the 2023 budget making no provision for fuel subsidy, further payment was no longer justifiable.
“The fuel subsidy is gone,” Tinubu said. His government would instead channel funds into infrastructure and other areas to strengthen the economy, he added.
The presidential pronouncement led to an almost instant resurgence of fuel queues across the country with Nigerians which came with an instant increase in transportation cost.
Accoring to the organised labour, the President cannot unilaterally take a decision on subsidy removal.
TUC President, Festus Osifo, also argued that there was a reason the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari pushed the “sensitive issue” to the new government.
At a meeting with the Federal Government on Wednesday, the NLC demanded that the Federal Government return to the old price of fuel before resuming negotiations with labour on price hike.
Ajaero said the Federal Government did not enter into any conversation nor provide palliative measures for Nigerians, insisting on rejection petroleum price hike.
