A group, Vanguard for Transparent Leadership and Democracy (VATLAD) has asked labour unions to work with the federal government to retool the country’s four refineries.
The appeal may not be unconnected to the threat issued by the labour unions to once again embark on nationwide strike action if their demand of N500,000 minimum wage is not agreed upon by the federal government and organised private sector, who are labour employers.
VATLAD asked the unions represented by NLC and TUC where the money the unions are demanding will come from to pay the minimum wage demanded by labour unions if the federal government accedes to it.
The national president of VATLAD, Engr Igbini Emmanuel, said the question is unpopular but critical and must be answered by the labour unions, given that over 90 percent of Nigeria’s total revenue comes from the Upstream Petroleum Sector.
He said the sector has for many years witnessed an unprecedented level of massive looting, mismanagement, corruption, crude oil thefts, and unethical practices reportedly perpetuated or aided by some top-level employees of the companies operating in this sector (IOCs, NNPC, and others).
Emmanuel also said Nigerians are aware that the major factor leading to the astronomical increase in the prices of commodities and services in the last year is the unjustified hike in the pump prices of petroleum products across the country.
“This is coupled with the fact that the four petroleum refineries owned by Nigeria are deliberately grounded under the guise of Turn Around Maintenance, gulping trillions of US Dollars.
“Where then will the money come from to pay Nigerian workers this new minimum wage demanded by labour unions? The Nigerian workers of these grounded refineries can continue to earn salaries without working.
“Labour unions, being co-managers with government and management of the organised private sector, do have the moral and constitutional responsibility to prevent the occurrences of these above economic and financial crimes. Have the labour unions done anything or much to stop these crimes?
“Over the years, we have prevailed on the labour unions to take over the control, management and operations of these refineries and deploy their members, who are very competent Nigerians, to resume and commence the running of these refineries to produce refined petroleum products that will crash pump prices.
“Billions of naira are also reported to be lost daily due to these economic and financial crimes committed in the upstream petroleum sector. What have the labour unions done to bring to justice workers who are alleged to be directly or indirectly involved in these unpatriotic acts?” Emmanuel asked.
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