LABOUR leaders are converging on Lagos ahead of tomorrow (Friday) when they are expected to publicly reject removal of subsidy on fuel by the government, and to also unveil plans to ensure that their wish prevails.

The labour leaders and other stakeholders in the sector will brainstorm on the implications of the removal of the subsidy on petrol and kerosene and take final decision on how to react to the development beyond the press releases the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has issued to state its opposition to the move.

Speaking to The Guardian in Abuja yesterday, the General Secretary of the Congress, Peter Ozo-Eson, berated the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) for reviewing the template without inputs from major stakeholders, including labour.

“We need to have a transparent re-working of the template. The PPPRA, by law, is saddled with that responsibility, but it failed to engage stakeholders as stipulated in law before it changed the template. The PPPRA Executive Secretary, who is appointed by government and is directed either by the minister or the President, cannot on his own fix the template. This is because the stakeholders have not met for a long time. Therefore, there is a violation of the law by government. We need to be careful as a mono-economy country,” he stated.

The NLC scribe said Congress has scheduled its National Executive Council (NEC), which is the second highest decision-making organ of NLC, to Friday in Lagos where major steps on the response of labour to the subsidy removal would be taken.

“While I would not want to preempt the meeting, I can say that it will look at the removal of subsidy on petrol and kerosene and the increment of electricity tariffs. We will make major pronouncements on these issues among other major issues that affect the polity at the end of the meeting,” Ozo-Eson said.
Meanwhile, anti-poverty agency, ActionAid, has kicked against the recent increase in the pump price of kerosene in the country.

In a statement in Abuja yesterday, ActionAid Nigeria stressed how the development “signifies a continuation of “a worrying trend of regressive policies that are emanating in recent times”.
The body said the increase from N50 to N83 would worsen the poverty level in the country.

Country Director of the organisation, Ojobo Atuluku, said the Federal Government’s decision to remove subsidy on kerosene which has led to the increase of pump price of the product, is regressive and worrisome.
She listed other policies in that category to include the recently imposed stamp duties on banking transactions amounting to one thousand naira and the increase in the electricity tariff.