By Ayuba Wabba
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has watched with utter disgust and dismay how business and commercial activities in the country have been brought literally to a halt as a result of the activities of a mindless and cruel cabal that has taken absolute grip of the petroleum import business.
Clearly, the objective of the cabal in the current impasse is to arm-twist the Federal Government to part with billions of dollars, which it had not earned, in the name of fuel subsidy payments. More curious, however, is the fact that the Federal Government has allowed this cabal to continue to hold the entire country to ransom thereby escalating the regime of impunity and unimaginable corruption which had taken complete hold of the operations of our petroleum sector causing the country to lose billions of dollars over the years.
As Mr. President has had cause to remind Nigerians in the weeks following the March 28, 2015 Presidential election, that he was still in charge of running the country, the NLC hereby call on him to take firm and decisive action by calling to order all those in the petroleum sector that have one way or the other brought this crisis upon the nation. The implicit message in such a definitive action will show that no one – business men and women and their collaborators, in and out of government – is strong enough to hold the entire people of Nigeria and its government to ransom.
We therefore urge Mr. President to, in the few days remaining of his tenure, pinpoint the officers in his government who have failed so spectacularly in performing their duties which has led to the current mess. Given that Mr. President has been very active of recent in the sacking and appointment of officers to less significant functionaries of government; we expect him to within these few days carry out a quick investigation on the matter which should identify the officers behind the current situation and hand them over to the incoming administration to further investigate and made to face the law.
Secondly, the outgoing administration should blacklist all those private sector companies involved in the massive blackmail of Nigerians and ensure that their licenses are revoked as a punitive measure to serve as deterrent to operators that it doesn’t pay to blackmail and hold a nation to ransom.
The ugly experience of Nigerians in the last four or so weeks regarding this fuel scarcity raises a few questions. One; what happened to our old habit of maintaining “a strategic national reserve”? Two, is the action of the players in the petroleum sector a subtle plot to force the hands of the incoming administration to forcibly deregulate the petroleum sector, and compound the hardship of Nigerians through the increase in the prices of petroleum products?
As organised labour, we maintain our position that government has absolutely no excuse not to ensure that our four refineries with combined capacity to refine 450 thousand barrels per day to function and operate to full capacity.
We refuse to accept that as a nation so dependent on the petroleum sector, that Nigeria is incapable of building and effectively maintaining refineries to refine all the petroleum products it needs internally and more, so that we are able to satisfy our internal consumption needs and export finished products with value addiction along the chain, to earn additional foreign exchange for the nation.
While sympathising with Nigerians over the suffering they have been made to go through over the past few weeks, we call on Nigerians and Nigerian workers to persevere and avoid any action that can affect a smooth transition from President Jonathan’s administration to the new one scheduled to happen on May 29, 2015.
As we have stated in our May Day address, the NLC will engage the new government as soon as it is sworn in, to dialogue on a more permanent basis, the problems which had brought the petroleum sector on its knees.
Among the issues the NLC will engage the new government on, as far as the petroleum sector is concerned, are:
- The implementation of the Faruk Lawan’s House of Representatives Report on the Petroleum Sector,
- Implementation of the Nuhu Ribadu Committee Report,
- Implementation of the Senate Committee on Finance on the Alleged Unremitted US$49.8 billion Oil Revenue by the NNPC
- Review of the Audit Report by Pricewaterhousecooper
We in the NLC are hopeful that the incoming administration, with the experience of the President-elect in the petroleum industry, will help usher in an era of patriotic and nationalist orientation, and will tighten all the areas of leakages and fraudulent practices which had deprived our country of billions of dollars in earnings into the federation account.
Should our optimism of a new era for our country in the oil sector become unrealisable, we shall follow in the footsteps of our forebears, and defend the interest of Nigerian workers and the Nigerian masses as a whole.
We want to use this medium to explain that the trio of Joe Ajaero, Igwe Achese and Issa Aremu, who had on numerous occasions since they lost elections on March 14, 2015 rescheduled Delegates’ Conference of NLC persisted to speak allegedly as officers of Congress, that they do not have any such mandate.
In the said election, conducted in the full glare of the media, and supervised by our veterans, and officers of the Office of Registrar of Trade Unions, statutorily mandated to oversee trade union affairs, these individuals lost in their bid to be president and deputy presidents respectively.
Therefore, purporting to speak on behalf of the NLC when they are not officers of the body is an unfortunate act of impersonation. We herby advice the general public to please take note and not be defrauded by such claims.
Comrade Ayuba Wabba, mni
President
