NLC, TUC Issued Joint Communique, Orders Buhari To Reverse Pump Price In 3 Days Or Face Indefinite Strike

The Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) has ordered the federal government to revert to the original price of petrol by Tuesday next week or face indefinite strike from workers. Addressing the press after it's National Working Committee meeting in Abuja today, NLC leaders also urged and asks Nigerians to stockpile food ahead of the protest against fuel subsidy removal.

JOINT COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF THE EMERGENCY MEETINGS OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCILS OF THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS, THE TRADE UNION CONGRESS AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS HELD ON FRIDAY MAY 13, 2016

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:

FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL: TWELVE REASONS WHY DECISION IS RIGHT

01: Trillions of naira have been spent by successive administrations sustaining a corrupt, largely abused regime that has ended up in private pockets, creating overnight billionaires who continue to walk free.

02: Petrol subsidies over the years have caused supply disruptions and engendered inefficiencies in their management.

03: Under the current low oil price environment, dwindling oil revenue and shortage of foreign exchange, deregulation would partly reduce the pressure on the naira and foreign reserves


04: With deregulation, importers of petrol can source for their dollar requirements from autonomous sources, which would ease pressure on the naira and foreign reserves