The organised labour marched to the National Assembly on Wednesday in protest over the worsening living conditions in the country. In a symbolic act, protesters pulled down the gate of the National Assembly complex, a bold statement indicating their resolve to defy the odds to make their voices heard, writes DIRISU YAKUBU
Their patience has worn thin and hopes for respite appear very far on the horizon. But who would blame them? In a country where life has almost become nasty, brutish and short, the least Nigerians expect from a new government is a continuation of their sufferings.
Truth be told, Bola Tinubu never promised throughout the duration of his campaigns that the pains in the land would come to an end the moment he’s sworn in as President of Nigeria. Like the duo of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party respectively, Tinubu had promised that if voted into power, he would put an end to the subsidy regime. Barely a month in the saddle, he delivered on his promise. So, what is the cause of the anger across the country?
The attendant hardship occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy had made life hellish as many Nigerians, regardless of their status, have resorted to trekking unimaginable distances to cut down the cost of commuting to their places of work. In the past two months, the price of the Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, had increased from N534 to N617 per litre forcing the cost of intra and inter-city transportation to rise geometrically. This is not to mention the rise in the cost of foodstuffs and other essential goods.
Unable to convince the Federal Government to reconsider its stand on the total removal of subsidy from petrol, protesters led by the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Agaero and his Trade Union Congress counterpart, Festus Osifo, pulled down the National Assembly gate, Abuja, after security operatives refused to open the gate to enable them to have an interface with the lawmakers on Wednesday.
Across the land, the protesters, tired of a hardship that had shown no sign of abating, sang and danced in frustration as they called on the government to roll out realistic palliative measures. As it were, the palliatives as announced by the President in his Monday broadcast to the nation, did nothing to calm the nerves of a troubled workforce.
Ajaero, who told journalists at the Unity Fountain that there is “nothing stopping the protest, not even an overture from the government,” warned of the danger in paying lip service to the demands of workers, who he said, have been rendered the biggest casualties of the subsidy removal.
Organized labour, he added, would not back down on the mass protest unless the government demonstrated an eagerness to address the challenges in the land.
The Wednesday invasion of the National Assembly complex while the Senators were screening ministerial nominees must have left some of them utterly embarrassed.
Speaking with The PUNCH, the senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, Victor Umeh slammed the Tinubu-led government for failing to plan adequately for the aftermath of the subsidy removal. According to him, the local refinery of crude oil remains the singular most effective model for dealing with the perpetual recourse to the dictates of market forces, which had been the bane of the nation’s oil sector for decades.
Although Umeh agreed that subsidy removal was a step in the right direction and urged Nigerians to be patient with the Federal Government, the lawmaker also called on the Tinubu administration to consider overhauling the nation’s four refineries in the interim, rather than depend on imported fuel to meet local demands.
Umeh, who was elected on the platform of the Labour Party, also noted that the palliatives rolled out by the Commander-in-Chief were not exactly what the poor needed ‘to breathe now.’
He said, “It is very unfortunate that the country is going through a very challenging time. Everybody needs to calm down so that we can find a solution. The sudden removal of fuel subsidy was not planned, and this is the hardship we are passing through today. If we can’t refine crude locally, then, we cannot get out of this trouble. I want to appeal to Nigerians, including members of the NLC, to give the government a chance to start and the way to start is by refining crude oil locally.
“If we continue to depend on importation of refined products, we can’t get out of this challenge. I sympathize with Nigerians including myself. Nigerians are suffering, we cannot deny this. Let’s bring the refineries we have in the country back on stream in the interim while working on steps to establish new ones. Government should come up with measures to cushion the effect as it concerns local transportation.
“The proposed N8, 000 for 12 million families is neither here nor there. The entire palliative packages as announced by the President should be reviewed because the needs of the people are getting bigger every day. Truth is, the government should have provided these things before the removal of the subsidy. If an average worker suddenly realizes that his monthly salaries can no longer pay his transportation and feeding bills, then, there is a problem.”
Joining the conversation is a member of the House of Representatives, Billy Osawaru representing Orhionmwon/Uhunmwonde Federal Constituency, Edo State, who fingered some powerful but unnamed Nigerians as the forces behind the nationwide protests.
“Some Nigerians are behind the protests because if it is obvious that the President is willing to answer to the yearnings of the people; why the protests? The President has come out to lay out plans to address the hardship. It has never been better than this. Let’s tell ourselves the truth. Barely two months in office, President Tinubu has responded to the yearnings of the people. He has come up with short term, mid- term and long term plans to tackle these challenges; yet, these people insisted on a protest. What result do they want to achieve?
“Are they now saying that nobody is listening to them? There are people fanning the ember of distrust and at the end of the day, these people don’t mean well for Nigeria. If they do, they should listen to the offers coming from the President.”
Osawaru recalled that the immediate past administration gave no chance to the organized labour to oppose its stand on some issues, saying, “These same labour people were taken to the National Industrial Court by the administration of Muhammadu Buhari and they were banned from protesting. What were they able to achieve? There are selfish people behind these protests and this is very unfortunate. Nigerians should be educated enough to realize that those who claim that they love this country are those doing things detrimental to the health of the nation.”
On his part, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome counselled the Federal Government to address the hardship being felt by Nigerians warning that the situation may degenerate to an unimaginable level.
“The nation is on tenterhooks from elite predators and buccaneers with insatiable propensity for primitive acquisition of illicit wealth. It’s going to get worse. Nigeria is on tenterhooks, on a dangerous curvy precipice unless something drastic is done to salvage the horrific situation,” he said.
Also speaking, the immediate past National Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Anthony Sani noted that though it was the right of the protesters to hit the streets, pulling down the gate to the National Assembly was a step taken too far.
His words: “While I sympathize with the NLC and Nigerians over the hardship caused by the removal of fuel subsidy, I do not believe that pulling down the gate of the National Assembly is a solution. We all supported fuel subsidy in the past because the government could afford it but now that government can no longer afford it due to low production quota and price of oil; there is no option for the government than to remove it. The president said that much in his broadcast.”
That said, Sani added that the undesirability of the subsidy regime was the sole reason the largest political parties in the country all promised to do away with it in the event of victory in the 2023 presidential election.
“This explains why all the major political parties, namely, APC, PDP and LP campaigned for its removal. Now that it has been removed, the Federal Government has come up with palliatives to lessen the hardship being experienced by Nigerians. What is expected from the NLC, TUC and other Nigerians are suggestions on how best the government can reduce the hardship being experienced pending when Dangote Refinery would come on stream and force the prices of petrol down.
‘’The NLC, TUC, the opposition parties and Nigerians are at liberty to let the government know how to increase the yield of the limited resources for public good. Protests and violence are what anybody can do but they should be avoided. In this circumstance, protests and destruction of public properties can never be the solution,” he maintained.
It is unclear what steps the government would take next as leaders of the various labour unions were said to have met with the President a few hours after the protest ended in most state capitals across the nation.
