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.
