JUST-IN: Labour Insists On Protest, Doubts Tinubu On Inflation Control, Fuel Price

The Organised Labour is determined to proceed with its planned nationwide strike action/protest against the removal of petrol subsidy on Wednesday, as it expressed doubts over President Bola Tinubu’s capacity to control inflation and soaring gasoline prices due to the unification of the exchange rate.

At a meeting of the Steering Committee on Palliatives at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, asserted that the workers’ peaceful protest scheduled for Wednesday remains unchanged.

He dispelled concerns about the protest being hijacked by hoodlums, emphasising that such incidents have never occurred in the history of workers’ demonstrations.

Ajaero called on security agencies to ensure the safety of the workers during the protest.

Regarding Tinubu’s proposed intervention on the exchange rate to tackle inflation and high fuel costs, Ajaero expressed skepticism, stating that with an import-driven energy market and no comparative advantage, controlling prices would be challenging.

He highlighted the complexities in regulating the exchange rate and cost of essential goods like electricity and corn, which have seen significant price hikes.

Ajaero said: “By the time you have a single market and you are not having anything that has a comparative advantage, your energy is import-driven, then how are you going to control it?

“How are you going to control somebody that exchange dollar at about 900 (naira)? Are you going to tell him to sell below the price?

“How are you going to tell even NEPA today, with the cost of production not to increase tariff? Even corn in the villages that was sold at N18,000 by February, now it’s about N56,000. How are you going to control it?”

On the government’s part, the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, revealed that various issues were discussed during the closed-door meeting, and they adjourned to listen to the President’s national broadcast.

He expressed hope that after the broadcast, the President’s interventions would address the situation comprehensively, possibly negating the need for the planned protest.

Responding to questions about why the government did not roll out palliatives before ending petrol subsidy, he attributed it to the previous government’s failure to budget for the subsidy.

He also acknowledged the challenge of dealing with powerful oil cabals, citing the removal of the subsidy as a necessary initial step.

He said, “We have been locked behind for a couple of hours, we had a good meeting, issues were thrashed out on the situation in Nigeria today in terms of issues centred around on government intervention on the situation in the country.

“We agreed to adjourn till tomorrow as you know Mr. President is making a national broadcast today. Based on what we anticipate that Mr. President will be telling Nigerians, we decided to adjourn meeting till 12pm tomorrow before Labour can decide whether or not they want to continue with the protest on Wednesday.

“But we believe that after tonight broadcast, President will speak to all the issues, he will roll out his interventions and needles to say we believe any reasonable person will tell you that at that point there will be no need for any protest.”

The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, pleaded with the Organised Labour to give the administration time to address the struggling economy.

He stressed that President Tinubu inherited a challenging economic situation and was diligently working to improve it.

Ribadu said, “the meeting was an opportunity for us to appeal to the labour leaders by extension Nigerians that we are facing difficulties and challenges that are not our making. We inherited a very bad situation.

“Most of the problems people are talking about are not a creation of this government. This government is barely two-month-old and since we have been facing these difficulties and challenges, we have a listening and engaging President, a President who will want to have a conversation and react.

“He is truly, genuinely, honestly doing it. Our appeal is please Nigerians, give us the support that is needed and required, we are working, we are trying to change things.

“We inherited a very bad situation, we are trying to stop all those things we witnessed in the past, we are trying to stop the killings, stop the attacks on trains, stop attacks on prisons, stop IPOB what they are doing, stop bandits, stop Boko Haran,” he said.

The organized labour had previously walked out of a meeting last week, citing the absence of top government officials for negotiations.

Present at Monday’s meeting were representatives from various labour organizations, including the NLC and TUC, as well as government officials such as the Chief of Staff to the President and the Special Adviser to the President on Energy.

The meeting, however, adjourned until Tuesday afternoon to allow the Labour leaders to hear the President’s broadcast before deciding whether to proceed with the protest or not.