The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) announced a nationwide strike commencing from next Wednesday, a decision made in response to widespread fuel shortages. The scarcities have been triggered by President Bola Tinubu’s inaugural speech, during which he stated unequivocally, “fuel subsidy is gone.”
The announcement of the strike action was made on Friday following a meeting of the NLC’s National Executive Council (NEC) in Abuja. The NEC, which comprises presidents, general secretaries, treasurers of all NLC-affiliated unions, state chairpersons and secretaries of NLC State Councils, as well as the chairperson of the NLC Youth Committee and members of the National Administrative Council (NAC), deliberated over the removal of the fuel subsidy and the subsequent hike in the price of petrol.
This action follows the inconclusive discussions between the Federal Government and the NLC over the removal of the fuel subsidy on Wednesday. The high-level meeting took place at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and included representatives of both parties.
The Federal Government was represented by Dele Alake, Tinubu’s spokesperson, and the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, among others. On the other hand, Organised Labour was represented by NLC National President, Joe Ajaero, and the President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Festus Osifo.
Following hours of deliberation with the Federal Government, the NLC insisted that the status quo be reinstated, and fuel prices be reverted before resuming negotiations with the NLC. NLC President Ajaero expressed firm opposition to the removal of the subsidy, insisting on the reversal of the status quo before any formal engagement with the NLC. He was adamant about protecting the Nigerian workforce and providing additional solutions.
Alake, on the other hand, described the meeting as ‘robust’, expressing hope for further talks and a satisfactory conclusion at the next scheduled meeting. However, no consensus was reached in this meeting.
In response to this unresolved issue, the NLC has called on the Tinubu-led government to instruct the NNPC to withdraw its “vexatious Pricing template” to facilitate free-flowing discussions on the removal of the subsidy.
President Tinubu’s announcement of the termination of the fuel subsidy during his inaugural speech led to panic buying and hoarding of petrol, causing long queues at filling stations and fuel scarcity across the country.
To complicate matters, just a few hours before the proposed meeting of organised labour with government representatives, the NNPC released a list of adjusted pump prices for its mega stations across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The new prices ranged from N488 per litre in Lagos State to N557 per litre in Yobe and Borno states, N537 in Abuja, and N520 in Enugu.
The strike action, a response to the tripling of fuel prices, presents the first major challenge for President Tinubu, following his decision to abolish the costly fuel subsidy. His decision has resulted in a sharp rise in transport fares, and Bolt, an Estonian ride-hailing and food delivery startup, reported increasing its prices in Nigeria due to the higher operating costs resulting from the fuel price hike.
While the fuel subsidy cost the government billions of dollars annually, it was popular among Nigerians, as it helped keep fuel prices low in Africa’s largest oil producer, a country still dealing with high poverty rates.
Image Credit: Erik Mclean on Unsplash
