From Uche Usim, Abuja
A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Concerned Citizens Project (CCP), has described the planned protest of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) against the intended removal of petrol subsidy as a perfect recipe for anarchy and economic paralysis.
To this end, it has called on the organised labour to quickly dump the idea as it is misguided, unwise and self-defeating.
In a statement signed by CCP’s
National Coordinator, Dr. Bello Musa Gwani and the National secretary, Silvester Koni, the Group implored the leaders of NLC and TUC to resist the temptation of acting the script of a gang of selfish elites who are currently benefitting immensely from the opaque petroleum subsidy at the detriment of the Nigerians and the economy.
“NLC and TUC need to get their acts together by putting the future and survival of Nigeria first.
“The intended strike and protest will put a halt on the operations of government offices, banks, shopping centres and schools, transportation workers and will also significantly affect the informal sectors including markets and local transportation services. “This will cause untold hardship on Nigerians and have a significant damaging effect on an already struggling economy. Paralyzing the country of more than 200 million people, the majority of the citizens live on daily wage and will be highly irrational”, the CCP said.
It added that the planned protest was susceptible to being hijacked by criminal elements given the delicate security situation in the country.
“It will be of great concern that provocateurs and anarchists can hijack such protests and demonstrations, or hide under the cover of protestors and promote discord, anarchy and unleash mayhem to the detriment of public peace. We have all witnessed how criminal elements hijacked the End SARs protest, and the amount of looting and burning that took place, while turning into tribal violence and killings in some states. Similarly, politicians and other interests beyond the implementation of the deregulation policy can hijack the national protest to derive personal and selfish agendas. It is thus imperative for NLC and TUC leaders to avoid putting Nigeria in such a delicate security situation.
“For most oil producing countries, high oil prices means high government earning, more spending on education, health, infrastructure, poverty alleviation etc. Unfortunately, that is not the case in Nigeria, as the high profit margin earned from high oil prices is largely swallowed by petroleum subsidies. If NLC and TUC leaders are not in terms with the proposed stoppage to paying petroleum subsidy despite the glaring evidence of the failure of the scheme, they can explore other avenues to prevent high petroleum prices in the country. One important option is to engage with the government to find a more suitable solution. For example by putting pressure on the government to revamp the three national refineries (in Kaduna, Warri and Port-Harcourt) which can play a significant role in easing the pressure on our forex reserve thus strengthening our currency. A strong Naira and local refining capacity will make the petroleum products cheap even without subsidies. In addition if these refineries are revamped, hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs will be created, thus creating a multiplier effect in the fight against poverty and the growth of our economy”, the CCP added.
The Group further admonished the labour unions to always put the interest of Nigerians first by embracing options that will not worsen Nigeria’s security situation and ultimately cripple the economy.