NLC, TUC, Senate Kick Over Petrol Subsidy Removal

• It’s an invitation to chaos, anarchy – Labour

BY EDMOND ODOK, ABUJA – The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has warned that the Federal Government’s move to implement the fuel subsidy removal next year is an open invitation for unrest and revolt in the country.

Accordingly, the Congress urged the government to refrain from its planned action to avoid setting the nation on fire, even as it accused the government of pandering to the whims and caprices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank

This is as the Nigerian Senate and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) also threw their weights behind the NLC in rejecting the Federal Government’s proposal to replace fuel subsidy with the so-called N5,000 monthly transport grant to 40 million Nigerians next year.

A statement by the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said; “A few hours ago, the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari announced that the price of petrol could jump as high as N320 and N340 from February 2022.

“The NNPC GMD/CEO said that the price increase would be consequent on the plans by the Federal Government to remove subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit also commonly referred to as petrol or fuel. The grand optimism of the NNPC GMD was predicated on the claims that the removal of the fuel subsidy is now backed by an act of parliament probably the Petroleum Industry Act which was recently signed into law.

“The assertion of the NNPC GMD was re-echoed on the 23rd of November 2021 by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, at the launch of the World Bank Nigeria Development Update (NDU), titled ‘Time for Business Unusual’ where she announced government’s plans to disburse N5000 to 40 million poorest Nigerians each as transport grant to cushion the effect of the planned removal of the fuel subsidy.

‘’The disclosures by the NNPC GMD and the Minister of Finance were in symphony with the positions of the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri and the International Monetary Fund urging the Federal Government to do away with fuel subsidy.

“The response of the Nigeria Labour Congress is that what we are hearing is the conversation of the Federal government with neo-liberal international monetary institutions. The conversation between the government and the people of Nigeria especially workers under the auspices of the trade union movement on the matter of fuel subsidy was adjourned sine die so many months ago.

‘’Given the nationwide panic that has trailed the disclosure of the monologue within the corridors of government and foreign interests, the Nigeria Labour Congress wishes to posit that it continues to maintain its rejection of deregulation based on import driven model.

‘’It is difficult to convince Nigerian workers why our dear country is the only country among the OPEC member countries that cannot produce its own refined petroleum products and thus adopts the neo-liberal import production model of refined petroleum products.

“We wish to reiterate our persuasion that the only benefit of deregulation based on import driven model is that Nigerian consumers will infinitely continue to pay high prices for refined petroleum products.

‘’This situation will definitely be compounded by the astronomical devaluation of the Naira which currently goes for N560 to 1US$ in the parallel market. Thus, any attempt to compare the price of petrol in Nigeria to other countries would be set on a faulty premise as it would be akin to comparing apples to mangoes.

“The contemplation by the government to increase the price of petrol by more than 200% is a perfect recipe for an aggravated pile of hyper-inflation and astronomical increase in the price of goods and services. This will open a wide door to unintended social consequences such as degeneration of the current insecurity crises and possibly citizens’ revolt. This is not an outcome that any sane Nigeria wishes for.

“The argument that the complete surrender of the price of petrol to market forces would normalize the curve of demand and supply as is being wrongly attributed to the current market realities with cooking gas, diesel and kerosene is very obtuse.

‘’The truth is that these commodities which Nigeria can easily produce have been priced out of the reach of most Nigerian families with the majority of our people resorting to tree felling and charcoal for their energy needs.

“We wish to warn that the bait by the government to pay 40 million Nigerians N5000 as a palliative to cushion the effect of the astronomical increase in the price of petrol is comical, to say the least.

‘’The total amount involved in this queer initiative is far more than the money government claims to spend currently on fuel subsidy. Apart from our concerns on the transparency of the disbursement given previous experiences with such schemes, we are wondering if the government is not trying to rob Nigerians to pay Nigerians. Why pay me N5000 and then subject me to perpetual suffering?

“Clearly, government thoughts on the so-called removal of fuel subsidy are cloudy and appear to be a ‘penny wise-pound foolish’ gamble. It is clear that the palliative offered by the government will not cure the cancer that will befall the mass of our people who suffer the double jeopardy of hyper-inflation while their salaries remain fixed.

“As we had done several times, we call on the federal government to consider various options that can help Nigeria navigate out of the quagmire constructed by the failure of successive governments to embrace developmental governance and accountable leadership.

‘’Some of the viable options that can help insulate the domestic consumers from the market pressure brought about by the free fall of the Naira by making arrangements with contiguous refineries not far from Nigeria to swap crude oil with refined petroleum products; to accelerate work on the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s four major refineries which are all currently operating at near-zero installed capacity; and establish empirical data on the number of refined petroleum products consumed daily by Nigerians.

“It is unfortunate that this record remains a myth and a huge crater for all manner of official sleaze and leakages in the downstream petroleum sub-sector of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.”

It’s No No – Senate 

Reacting to the proposed subsidy removal, Chairman of Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Olamilekan Adeola said there was no provision for N5,000 monthly grant for 40 million Nigerians for transportation allowance in the 2022 budget currently before the National Assembly.

He told journalists that the Executive can embark on such intervention without consultation with National Assembly given that such a proposal would cost the nation about N2.4 trillion.

 According to the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker, who represents Lagos West Senatorial District in the Red Chamber, besides not having provision for such a grant in the 2022 budget, “What are the criteria that would be used to determine beneficiaries of the transportation allowance?”

TUC faults N5,000 transport grant

Reacting to the development, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) expressed shock that the government could announce such plans when negotiations on subsidy removal between it and the Labour movement were still ongoing.

Insisting that the government’s new position on fuel subsidy was totally unacceptable, TUC’s Secretary-General, Musa Lawal, said they were shocked with the government pronouncement because it was a unilateral decision without the input of labour.

“We are surprised and shocked with the government pronouncement. We do not know how the government came about it. The government is calling for trouble if they think they can go ahead with subsidy removal without labour.

“The Presidential Committee made up of government representatives and Labour has not concluded its assignment. Our last meeting was in April. This new position is totally unacceptable to us.

“Let us look at the issue of N5,000 for about 40 million Nigerians. How did the government arrive at the figure? How did they determine the targeted beneficiaries? Most Nigerians are aware that similar money was given out, the identities of the beneficiaries have remained a subject of controversy and debate among Nigerians”, he said.