Due to the hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, from N148 to N161 per litre, the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress (TUC) are consulting civil society allies and relevant organs of Labour towards embarking on strike.
The consultations for strike was disclosed yesterday as the Senate hinted it might hold an emergency session to address worries raised by hike.
The President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, said in Abuja that the NLC and TUC would convoke a meeting next week to deliberate on modalities for an industrial action. He also said NLC and TUC would visit Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital to protest against alleged clampdown on labour activists by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
Both NLC and TUC accused Governor Wike of demolishing its Rivers State council office on February 2. Wabba alleged the demolition took place when workers started making demands for their entitlements based on new national minimum wage.
On the price hike, he said: “Clearly, the action of the Federal Government is most insensitive and an affront to the Nigerian people who are bearing heavy burden of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everywhere in the world, governments are granting various types of palliative but ours is interested in piling more miseries on its citizens. We will resist this latest move to impoverish the mass of the working people.”
The TUC President, Quadri Olaleye, in a statement, confirmed that consultations had started. He stated that increasing petroleum prices and electricity bills at a time people were losing jobs, when businesses were adversely affected by COVID-19, was a wicked step.
“They have developed a thick skin that our pleas and cries no longer mean anything to them. No government has raped this country like the present one; ironically it has enjoyed our understanding the most. They beat us and when we cry, they send security operatives after us or force us to pay a fine of N5m for ‘’hate speech’’. Our patience has run out,” he said.
The President of African Region of Public Service International (PSI), Peters Adeyemi, also condemned the increment. Adeyemi, who is also the General Secretary of Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), accused government of insincerity, saying it was the first government in history that increased petrol price without introducing palliatives.
He recalled that in June 2016 when the Buhari government removed subsidy, it said it had made provision for N500 billion intervention fund, which labour later found to be a lie.
