The Nigeria Labour Congress will continue with its planned nationwide protest on Thursday despite the announcement by the Federal Government that it would no longer remove the fuel subsidy for now.
Ahead of the mass rally, the NLC has written to the 36 state governors to demand the withdrawal of the removal of the fuel subsidy scheduled for June.
The NLC argued that the perennial hike in the pump price of petrol and other refined petroleum products was a transfer of government failure and inability to effectively govern the country.
But the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and the Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva; at the National Assembly on Monday said the Federal Government had suspended the plan to remove fuel subsidy.
Despite the new development, the Assistant General Secretary, NLC, Asuzu Echezona, confirmed that the rally would go on as planned. “We are continuing with preparation for the protests,” he clarified on Thursday night.
Also, the Ogun State Chairman of the NLC, Emmanuel Bankole, in an interview with newsmen, said the union was going ahead with the protest.
He stated, “The congress observed a game plan and deceit in the new development hence, there is no going back in the planned protest scheduled in the state against the plan by the Federal Government.
“We are aware (of the suspension of the fuel subsidy removal). We are going ahead with the Thursday protest. There is no going back.”
It was learnt that the union leader could not unilaterally call off the planned protest without convening meetings of their national executive councils.
Earlier, the NLC, in the letter to the governors, written by its President, Ayuba Wabba and General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, and made available to journalists on Monday, berated the government for its failure to manage the nation’s four oil refineries and inability to build new ones.
“It is tragic and shameful that Nigeria is about the only OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Producing Countries) country that cannot refine her crude oil,” the congress stated.
It said the government should re-engage the organised labour in discussions to find “mutually acceptable solutions to the current quagmire in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sub-sector.”
The letter titled, ‘Petition by Nigerian workers against the proposed increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit,’ stated, “The Federal Government should announce the withdrawal of its plans to increase the pump price of petrol.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that the perennial increase of the pump price of petrol and other refined petroleum products by the government is actually a transfer of government failure and inability to effectively govern to the poor masses of our country.
“Central to this is the failure of the government to manage Nigeria’s four oil refineries and inability to build new ones. It is tragic and shameful that Nigeria is about the only OPEC country that cannot refine her own crude oil.”
Meanwhile, the NLC has written to the Federal Capital Territory Police Command on its mass rally holding on Thursday.
The spokesperson, FCT police command, DSP Josephine Adeh, while confirming this to The PUNCH on Monday, explained that the congress did not need a police permit for its rally.
She stated, “They have written to inform us about the protests so our men would be on the ground to provide protection for them. They don’t need a permit to hold their protests but their letter was simply to inform us about the protests.”
Also, chapters of the NLC in states including Delta, Cross River, Ekiti, Ogun and Lagos said they were going ahead with the protest.
The Chairman of Ekiti State chapter, Kolapo Olatunde, said on Monday that the protest would be total in the state.
