IN a desperate move to avert a nationwide strike by organised labour and its civil society allies over the N145 per litre new pump price of petrol, the Federal Government has invited labour leaders in the country for a meeting today.....
House of Representatives will also, today, hold a special plenary and take a position on the recent increase in price of petrol.
However, leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, their counterparts in Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, and civil society allies had on Saturday, given government up till midnight tomorrow to reverse the pump price to the pre-Wednesday, May 11 rate of N86.50 or face a nationwide strike and street protests.
Vanguard gathered that the meeting will take place 10 am today at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
According to a source, the meeting will involve stakeholders, including leaders of NLC, TUC, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, and their Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN counterpart.
This came as NLC faction, led by Joe Ajaero, said it would today and tomorrow meet with civil society groups, market women, informal workers' groups and other Nigerians to fine-tune strategies on how to shut critical sectors of the economy should government fail to meet its demands.
He called on the Federal Government to reverse the N145 pump price hike and convoke a meeting of all relevant stakeholders before end of the Tuesday deadline to determine appropriate price of petrol or risk nationwide strike and mass action.
Ajaero, contended that what the government had done was simply to hike price to get more money without considering its overall implications on the masses of the country who were already struggling to survive in the midst of high cost of living.
According to him, government is not concerned about how to ensure that 100 per cent of the products were sourced locally, and faulted the blanket approval given to everyone interested in importation of petrol to go ahead and import.
He noted that it was a shame that, Nigeria, as a major producer of crude should be talking of importation and not how to revamp the existing refineries and build new ones to meet not only local demands but also for export.
He said: “The Congress, therefore, decided that we reject this unholy hike in the price of petrol and shall take active steps to ensure that whatsoever philosophy or idea that must have propelled it is erased in the process.
"We shall also ensure that this government removes all bottlenecks that make supply of the product to the citizenry difficult. To this end, we resolve that the federal government reverses its illegal decision to hike the pump price of PMS to N145/litre between now and Tuesday midnight.
“A Joint Action Committee to fine-tune the strategies and actions for this struggle has been set-up for a mass action.”
Meanwhile, leaders of the nation’s oil workers have said a nationwide strike was not the immediate solution to last Wednesday’s hike in the pump price of petrol.
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