He said this while briefing journalists after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting that the decision to increase the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit from N86 to N145 per litre was one of those decisions.
Lai Mohammed likened Nigeria’s situation to a case of a person, who got a pay cut and had to adjust to the current reality in terms of his spending. “The current problem is not really about subsidy removal. It is about (the fact) that Nigeria is broke. Pure and simple!
“It is like somebody who has been earning N100,000 a month and he is faced with a situation where his employer says henceforth, he will be earning N10,000 a month. He would need to make some very painful decisions and some very painful adjustments.”
“A few months ago, we were earning as much as $100 for every barrel of crude. In the months of February and March, we were short of…so, we no longer have the resources, the foreign exchange to bring in refined fuel products. And our economy is shrinking.
“We appreciate the fact that the decision is going to affect everybody. We appreciate what we are going through, but Nigerians should also know that the government has the responsibility at times to take very difficult decisions. So, it is not always about popularity.”
Mohammed’s comments came the same day the Nigeria Labour Congress started a strike to protest against the hike in fuel price.
The government had ordered workers to shun the strike, warning that they won’t get paid if they stayed away from work, especially as labour did not give it the required warning notice and the National Industrial Court had called for the suspension of the strike.
The FG followed the warning on Wednesday by directing permanent secretaries to ensure that all civil servants complied with the directive to report punctually to work daily and shun the strike.
A statement by the Director of Communications in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Haruna Imrana, said the directive was “in response to the pronouncement by the TUC calling off the industrial action” over the increase in the price of petrol.
Also speaking, the Minister of Labour, Ngige denied allegations that the government was encouraging labour factionalism by negotiating with both Ayuba Wabba and Joe Ajaero led factions at separate meetings to forestall the planned strike.
Ngige said the door was still open for talks with the federal government.
“We are ready to discuss with anybody even civil society groups. We as government will not encourage factionalism, if for anything we are unifying them by bringing them together to talk about issues that concern their unions and Nigerians. We have a right to talk to whoever we want.
“We will open our doors to them for negotiations when they come back”
Ngige said.
The Minister also revealed that FG has agreed to reconstituted the Board of Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) which was one of the demands of the NLC.
According to Nigige, the reconstitution would be done within a fortnight from now to accommodate input from Labour in the new development.
Similarly, the AGF, Malami discountenanced criticisms arising from the federal government legal approach for injunction against the industrial action, saying it was necessary especially as NLC did not give the government the constitutional 15 days notice
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