Fuel Subsidy: Northern Groups Accuse NLC Of Playing To The Gallery

The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has said the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has developed a penchant over the years for mass public deception over issues of serious national importance.

CNG said at every occasion, the NLC would deceive the public into believing it is protecting their interests, only to betray the course, negotiate with the government at the expense of the suffering masses.

Making this assertion in a statement by the spokesperson of the CNG, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the groups said in the first instance was the NLC protests over harsh economic policies of the immediate past Muhammadu Buhari government in February 2017 which came to an abrupt end without achieving any results and no convincing explanation to the public.

“Then came the September 2018 strike which was also terminated after the NLC met with government officials and compromised the effort with no effect.”

“The worst scenario was the October 2020 organised labour plan to shut down the entire economy  in protest over the increase in the pump price of petrol and hike in electricity tariffs. However, the strike was called off at the last minute after a meeting between government officials and labour leaders in Abuja,” he said.

Suleiman said the CNG in particular took exception to the move by labour at that time, describing it as a huge trade off and compromise in its strongly worded letter of October 6, 2021 to the then president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, expressing  disappointment in the labour leadership, for deliberately suspending an action meant to check the arbitrary hike in fuel prices by the Buhari administration.

He said in the letter, the CNG and 150 other northern affiliate groups warned that the untimely suspension of the strike to demonstrate Nigerians displeasure over hike in fuel and electricity prices by the NLC, was a big blow on Nigerians and would have dire consequences in the future.

CNG and the affiliate northern groups also expressed disappointment that the labour leaders in their negotiation with the government failed to press for a logical conclusion,  but opted for half-witted promises at the expense of the general public.

“Now that NLC wants to take the nation for granted once more, we demand that it should first of all explain its whereabouts at the time the budget was prepared, presented, defended by the government of the former president Muhammadu Buhari and passed by the 9th National Assembly without the provision for subsidy.

Otherwise, it will be the peak of self-delusion to think they can hoodwink the public once again into embarking on yet another futile exercise that in the end only benefits the leadership of the NLC who almost all the time sellout every struggle no matter how popular at the slightest of personal offers from government,” he said.

“We emphatically warn the NLC to note that it can never again take anybody for its usual ride,  having stripped itself of every strand of credibility, public trust and confidence,” he said.

The CNG called on the new administration of President Bola Tinubu to handle this obviously dicey situation with utmost wisdom and compassion so that the innocent public is not made a victim.

“We call the attention of the Tinubu administration to be vigilant over the latent trap set for it with the subsidy issue by the outgone government aiming to set it on a collision course with the public early in the day. We therefore advise the government to deploy maximum wisdom, and caution to chart a workable means of dealing with the bad situation deliberately thrown on its laps in such a way that no one gets hurt,” he said.