JOINT COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF THE EMERGENCY MEETING HELD ON FRIDAY MAY 13, 2016

Keywords : Nigeria Communique

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

JOINT COMMUNIQUE MAY 13, 2016 IN pdf

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:

During the electioneering campaign last year, the Presidential Candidate of the All
Progressives Congress ( APC ), Muhammadu Buhari, had promised that, if elected
president, he would not remove fuel subsidy if there was any at all;
After his election, President Muhammadu Buhari had maintained that there was no subsidy
in the petroleum product price regime and that even if there was, he did not see how its
removal would be beneficial to the ordinary Nigerian, noting that the slightest product price
adjustment often leads to inflationary spiral and unimaginable suffering for the people;

On January 18, 2016, the government further allayed the fears of the Nigerian people
by reducing the pump price of PMS to N86:50, explaining that the reduction was in
furtherance of the implementation of the revised component of the Petroleum Products
Pricing for PMS and kerosene;

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu had been speaking from
both sides of his mouth. Whereas last year, he had strongly canvassed for the removal of
"subsidy" in defiance of President Buhari, about a month ago, he claimed the subsidy had
been removed through his ingenuity and that Nigeria was saving $1billion from this process;

Organized Labour wondered what has informed government’s sudden and dangerous policy
summersault and its desperate attempt to convince the public that Labour was part of the
decision that led to this price increase;

In view of the fact that the board of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency
(PPPRA), which is statutorily vested with powers to recommend prices, has not been
reconstituted, the price variation announced by any officer of the agency or outside the
agency is not only ultra vires and illegal, it is a criminal imposition on the citizenry;
The price hike from N86:50 to N145, representing 67.63% increase, is the height
of insensitivity and impunity as there was no previous consultation with stake holders,
2
especially the organized labour, or any justification for this reckless decision other than the
fact that government believes it is accountable to no one;

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources declared that marketers will have to source
their dollars from the secondary market. The attendant pressure on the dollar will lead to
unimaginable rise in prices of commodities and other services thus creating further hardship
for the people. Due to the volatility of the black market, organized labour doubts that
government would be able to maintain PMS pump price at N145 per litre were the hike
acceptable or justifiable. At the time the PMS pump price was fixed at N145, the exchange
rate at the black market was N320 to the Naira. Between Wednesday and today when the
new pump price was announced, the Naira has further crashed against the dollar, first to
N340 on Thursday, then N365 on Friday morning and N385 by close of business on Friday,
all in 48 hours! At this rate, we believe it will not take long before the Naira becomes entirely
useless against the dollar. It is thus morally and economically suicidal to have tied the
importation of products to the secondary market exchange rate;

In view of the fact that in the past five years, there has been no increase in salaries or wages
or pensions in the face of devaluations, spiralling inflation and other vagaries of the
economy, this product price increase is unrealistic, unaffordable, unacceptable and is thus
rejected;

Government is unable to justify this price increase other than the puerile explanation that
marketers need to recover their costs, without a thought for the aggregate or larger national
interest including the need for local refining and creation of jobs;

The government has remained incalcitrant in spite of a subsisting court injunction on the
issue of the criminal increase in electricity tariff even in the face of ever-worsening power
supply situation;

From the foregoing, it is evident that the neo-liberal forces in the government have taken
over the government and we should expect more inhumane policies which will further
degrade the living standard of the average Nigerian. The punitive electricity tariff and PMS
product prices may just be teasers;

The implications are costly and far-reaching, with the first and most significant being that we
have become dependent on massive importation of refined products to meet our domestic
needs in contra-distinction to other OPEC members. Whereas most OPEC members
significantly meet their domestic needs through domestic refining by an average of 80 per
cent, Nigeria on the contrary, at the pace it is going, will continue to rely on about 90 percent
of imported refined products in the foreseeable future;

And because we are dependent on importation, the end-user price will always be influenced
or determined by external factors such as the cost of refining abroad, transportation and
others denominated in the dollar. As the Naira continues to depreciate against the dollar, so
will the woes of consumers in Nigeria continue to increase, a situation the Marketers in
classic greed will exploit to their advantage;

Taking into account the utilitarian value of petroleum products in Nigeria, all sectors are going to be negatively affected by this mindless price increase as virtually all the
stakeholders are agreed that the most significant contributor to the astronomical cost of doing
business in Nigeria is the cost of energy.

NLC, TUC and other civil society allies are not unaware of the positions taken by the Unions
in the oil and Gas Industry. A process of engagement will be put in place in order to ensure
the success of the struggle to protect the overall interest of the Nigerian people.

In consideration of all of the above, we urge government to:

Revert to the old price regime in order to reduce the suffering of the people and to
consider this singular act of mindless pump price increase as a betrayal of trust;

Revert to the pre-45 percent electricity tariff increase, make meters available to
consumers and stop estimated billing;

Reconstitute the boards of PPPRA and NNPC without further delay and give them their
statutory right to function alongside DPR in order to deepen the process of consultation,
checks and balances in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry;
Intensify the prosecution of all those involved in subsidy scams with a view to recovery and
sanctioning of the culpable;

Put in place enhanced local refining capacity within a specified period in place of endless
importation as an enduring solution to the perennial problem of scarcity;

Reverse the entire deregulation and privatization process which foists on the nation, private
individuals as drivers of the economy in contravention of the constitutional provision that
says government shall be the driver of the economy and engage the organised labour in the
process of negotiation on key policy issues;

Wean itself from the overbearing influence of the neo-liberal elements in its fold who have
not only staged a coup but are determined to make this government collapse even before the
end of its four-year tenure;

Uphold its electioneering promises to Nigerians instead of subjecting them to the vagaries
of slavish policies such as full devaluation of the naira and total removal of subsidy as
enunciated by the IMF and its agents in the system;

In the event government fails to accede to these demands on or before 12 midnight on
Tuesday, May17, 2016, the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress and their
civil society allies resolve to commence the following actions with effect from Wednesday, May 18, 2016;

 Mobilize to the streets across the country, ordinary and helpless Nigerians to
whom they owe the duty of protection;

 Shut down all Banks, Sea and Airports, Government and private offices as well
as Markets.

 Commence indefinite nationwide strike action.

 Fight/resist the machinations and cruelties of the neo-liberal forces in the
government as part of the process of saving the government from itself and the
generality of Nigerians from slavery.

Nigerian are therefore advised to stock sufficient food items that will last for a while for
the prosecution of the current struggle against neo-liberal agenda in Nigeria.

For and on behalf of Nigeria Workers, Civil society allies and the Masses;

Comrade Ayuba Wabba, mni. President, NLC

Comrade Bobboi Kaigama, President, TUC.

.

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