The grandstanding and recalcitrant posture by a section of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) over the futile strike action against all pleads, persuasions, negotiations and court order, as a result of the price variation of petrol which is part and parcel of the on-going process to systematically deregulate the complex and often times volatile as well as unstable oil sector, which is undoubtedly the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, is totally uncalled for and therefore unacceptable. It is important to note that, both NUPENG and PENGASAN saw valid reasons with the Federal Government and backed out of the strike action. It is also significant to observe that, the government has not increased the pump price of petrol to N145 per litre;, instead what the government has done is to say, petrol cannot sell beyond N145 per litre. And, as we have seen, some filling stations have started selling for between N100 and N143 per litre. A, good enough all the endless, long queues have disappeared, petrol is no longer scarce and a great measure of normalcy has been restored to the process.
The question that should be asked at this juncture is, what have these kinds of strikes achieved for the country over the years? Nothing tangible in my own estimation. The labour leaders call people out on demonstration and protest, where they have open confrontation with the law enforcement agents. M, many innocent and innocuous people have been sent to their early graves in the process, others have been maimed and hospitalized for years, while some of the labour leaders who have perfected the unholy art of settlement and have more often than not been compromised, smile to the banks with their ill-gotten largesse and such “blood money”, that do not bode well for a sizeable number of them, and only for them to call off the strike after a few days without anything concrete.
The germane thing to understand is that, the previous government failed to save significantly for the country, for trying times like this; rather they dissipated the national reserve and revenue earnings on conspicuous consumption, mundane pleasures as well as hedonistic and epicurean ways of life. And, what did the labour unions do? They pretended nothing horrible and offensive happened. What the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is planning hard to achieve is to:,
(1)Stop the illicit payment of subsidy to exploitative and parasitic middlemen; save money for the country and shore up the feeble national economy from imminent collapse.
(2)Initiate the gradual process of halting the unsustainable and counter-productive importation of refined oil, even from the neighbouring West African sub-region.
(3)Repair the old refineries in the country, rendered comatose as a result of sabotage, so that, they can commence full operations at optimal capacity.
(4)Build new refineries in the country that would be eventually commercialized for effective operations and efficient productivity.
(5)Give licenses to private investors and organizations to build refineries to deregulate the oil industry.
(6)Stop crass opportunism, graft and every form of leakages/loopholes in the sector and make Nigeria reap the full benefits of being an oil producing country as opposed to some few individuals as is the case presentlyat present.
(7)Develop the by-products of petroleum, create employment, enhance growth, generate wealth, eliminate poverty and expand the scope of industrial capacity, thereby boosting per capita income of the country.
(8)Stabilize the prices of goods and services in the country as well as engage in infrastructural renewal, expansion and development.
If these ideas are properly implemented, there is no way local production will not start in earnest and equally increase, oil importation for local consumption will stop and prices will automatically drop significantly. The revenue realized from the price variation, adjustment and modification will be ploughed back into other critical areas of the national economy and the process of diversification of the mono-cultural, dependent, quasi-capitalist system will give way for a more vibrant , robust, productive and dynamic economy.
Therefore, what the labour leaders should do is to enter into reasonable/pragmatic dialogue and constructive engagement with government that will have immediate and long term appreciable impact on the overall wellbeing of the national economy, while jettisoning all forms of hard-line positions. After all, when the national treasury was being pillaged, the labour movement kept mute. W, when the collective patrimony and commonwealth was balkanized amongst plutocrats, they maintained an undignified silence. W, when fuel was selling for N300 per litre, with long queues, and pipelines were vandalized and bombed, the labour leaders were bereft of ideas on exactly what to do. E, even over the jumbo pay package of national legislators, they had nothing to say. In fact, to provide feasible and homespun alternatives to the government, the labour is completely ignorant of how to give ennobling and enduring ideas to help map out, quality policies that are foolproof, and can truly stand the test of time. Not only has the labour union lost touch with the ordinary people and the grassroots, but the labour movement is seriously polarized. I, it is also weak, disorganized, disoriented and apparently lacks functional ideas and creative initiatives to either genuinely inspire hope and galvanize the country to lofty heights or enkindle confidence in the generality of the people. Fortunately, the people of Nigeria are wiser and will not easily fall for the gimmicks, tricks and sugar-coated tongues of these so-called labour leaders. The labour movement should therefore, wake up from its deep slumber, face stark realities and stop living in a fool’s paradise by building castles in the air.
How many times, for instance, has the NLC or TUC written position papers or technical papers on policy matters and submitted to government to revamp the ailing economy and get it out of the recurring economic quagmire? How many books/leaflets has the labour produced to document its ideas and mobilize Nigerians? Has NLC and its affiliates ever convened or organized a summit or conference on critical areas of national economy and given the government a strongly worded communiqué to work on? The NLC has become a cesspit of compromises, bargains, deals, negotiations, lethargy and settlements that enlarge the pockets of their leaders, whilst the generality of the people wallow in immeasurable poverty, anguish and penury. The labour movement is now very wily, crafty, guileful, tricky and cannot be relied upon to defend the defencseless. They no longer have ideological conviction that they hinge their resolve on; all they do nowadays is to fight for their stomach and pockets. What a shame!
The labour ought to know that with the drastic drop in the price of petrol in the international market, paucity of foreign exchange, empty foreign reserve, payment of subsidy is unsustainable and, therefore, there is the exigent need to halt importation of refined crude oil, encourage local production as well as export to different parts of the globe to improve the country’s revenue profile. If the country continues with the present arrangement, the following things we will go on unabated,
(1)Few rapacious middlemen will continue to fleece the country’s scarce national revenue in the name of fraudulent and profligate subsidy payment.
(2)The queues will get even longer in the filling stations across the length and breadth of the country, with several man hours losts and people suffering untold hardship.
(3)Black market fuel will hold sway and the masses will be exploited, dehumanized and impoverished.
(4)Even with the huge, mind-buglingboggling and staggering subsidy payments, in several places outside Lagos and Abuja, petrol sold for well over N300 per literlitre and much higher in some other places. The trend will even get worse.
(5)Smuggling and hoarding, which have become the hallmarks of the present petroleum regime in the country, will be further heightened and intensified.
(6)Prices of goods and services will continue to fluctuate with torrential rapidity and uncertainty, beyond reasonable limits, causing anxiety and frustration amongst the populace.
(7)There will be planlessness lack of planning and hasty policy decisions in the midst of chaos occasioned by horrendous petrol/fuel situation in the country.
(8)Corruption will remain and have a field day, damaging and devastating the oil sector to no ends, with deleterious consequences, and the country could be hemorrhagedhaemorrhaged to death.
(9)The foreign reserve will be depleted, and the economy will grind to a halt, which is a recipe for economic gloom and disaster.
(10)Pipeline vandalism and vandalization will go on unabated with no feasible solution in sight.
So, what is the position of labour on all of this? What is the way out of this sorry pass? What are the credible alternatives? Why should Nigerians be suffering in the midst of plenty? The labour leaders are not in any way suffering;, they have joined the upper class of the society, with the labour president using a very expensive jeep with customized plate number NLC 01, with security details and other luxurious perks. In truth, they do not feel the pains of the ordinary man on the street; they are living very affluent and opulent lifestyles, while using the call for strikes as a smokescreen to feather their insatiable nests. It is unimaginable that Ivory Coast which is not an oil producing country, yet, it has a refinery that refines crude oil, and Nigeria that is not only an oil bearing country but also an oil producing country and member of OPEC, imports some of her refined crude oil from the francophone West Africa country. Is this not very disgraceful to Nigeria, the so-called largest economy in Africa and 26th largest economy in the world? Is the NLC aware of the fact that, initially when the PMB administration halted the payment of subsidy to oil marketers, about N647 million was saved on a daily basis, so what are we talking about?
Therefore, instead of behaving like a -bull-in-a-china-shop and making a mountain -out -of -a -molehill, the NLC should put on its thinking cap and change its strategies. They cannot adopt the same methods and expect different results. Strike action, rather than solve the problem on ground, will aggravate it, and , strike will further damage the economy, make people suffer, lead to loss of lives and property, cause confusion, halt local and direct foreign investment and, at the end of the day, nothing meaningful will come out of the strike. Even on May Day’s celebration, the labour leaders merely engage in rhetoric and not really hammer on the fundamental needs of the working class people, the creator of the wealth of the nation. They mingle and carouse with politicians as well as people in positions of authority to get some various forms of largesse and settlement. It is important for the labour movement to reinvent itself before it becomes completely irrelevant, as it is now; strike action is not the desired solution to the challenges on ground. It is evidently clear that the labour movement and the people of Nigeria are not on the same page, that is why they refused to join the labour leaders on the street and the NLC was forced to hurriedly call-off the failed strike action as a face-saving device.
Written by Jide Ayobolu.
