NLC Threatens anotherStrike, ask Jonathan toRevert to 65 Naira perLitre

The open statement by
President Goodluck
Jonathan on the palliative
on subsidy has set another
stage for a showdown
between President
Goodluck Jonathan and
the labour unions as
labour is now asking the
Federal Government to
revert to the original
pump price of 65naira per
litre.
The Nigeria Labour
Congress and the
Association of Senior Civil
Servants of Nigeria
unanimously said that the
only option for Mr.
President was to reverse
the price from its present
N97 to the old
N65 per litre, considering
that the president is
unsure of the
implementation of its
palliative promises. The
President had said in a
PDP Chieftain gathering
that he was rethinking the
Subsidy
Reinvestment and
Empowerment
programme ( SURE)
because he was unable to
realize the Zero Subsidy
policy he had planned
earlier.
The President affirmed
that the palliatives was
initially based on the 100
per cent removal of
subsidy on fuel consumed
locally stating that,"This
(SURE) is developed with
the expectation that we
were going to completely
deregulate the
Downstream sector of the
oil industry, the 100 per
cent removal of subsidy…
we will still come up with
a document based on
what we get," he made
this known to the PDP
members and instructed
them to withdraw the
SURE document which was
earlier shared to the
members.
Backing the action of the
President, Senate Leader,
Victor Ndoma-Egba, said
Jonathan had thought that
the zero-subsidy
arrangement would work
before the initiative and
now that it's not working,
he cannot do otherwise.
"The President said he
wanted to remove
subsidy, Nigerians said
they don't want it
removed. Now that he
was not able to realise his
plan, where will he get the
money to carry out that
policy," Ndoma-Egba said.
He further argued that the
President would still need
to work with the savings
made from the little
increase in the pump price
of petrol.
"The President will have
to look at the proceeds
from partial deregulation
and work with what is
saved. That is the reason
why the document earlier
produced should be
revised to reflect the
current realities," he said.
Aside the objection by the
NLC and the ASCN, the
House of Representatives
had penultimate Tuesday
condemned the statement
of Mr.President and said
that its pessimism over
the government's
palliative can now be
justified.
In a Telephone
conversation with our
correspondent, the Acting
General Secretary of the
NLC, Mr. Owei Lakemfa,
said the only available
option to the Federal
Government was to return
to the status quo…
Meanwhile he had advised
the government to fulfil
its promise to use the
proceeds of fuel price
increase to construct
roads, build a second
Niger bridge, and other
promises contained in the
SURE programme.
"Right from the onset,
organised labour believed
that the Federal
Government was not
sincere with this
programme but the
government claimed that
we were going to get
results in six months.
What government is
saying now is that we
should not expect results,"
the NLC scribe said.
The statement also said it
was not surprised that the
President now doubts the
ability of its
administration to carry on
with the palliative since
the essence was to dribble
the public in the first
instance.
The Chairman of the House
Committee on Media and
Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari
Mohammed, added that
the law making arm has
always held that Nigerians
must always be conducted
before the take off of the
Subsidy regime.
He added, "We have been
vindicated because we
had initially opposed the
hurried manner the SURE
document was put
together.
"We were saying that the
funds for this programme
needed to be properly
appropriated by the
National Assembly and
more so that we needed
to have the details of the
programme."
Mohammed, however,
praised Jonathan for
discovering that
something had gone
wrong and retracing the
steps taken earlier.
The Minority Leader of the
House, Mr. Femi
Gbajabiamila, said that the
palliatives were a "dummy
right from the start."
According to Gbajabiamila,
"Under Section 17 of the
1999 Constitution (as
amended), government is
mandated to provide the
same services it has
promised as palliatives.
"The issues of health,
transport and all that;
these are the fundamental
duties that government
owes the citizenry.
"You cannot give me what
rightly belongs to me in
the guise of palliatives,
while taking away the
subsidy that I ought to
enjoy.
"So, I am not surprised
that they have decided to
withdraw it; it was a
dummy that I never ever
bought."
The National Publicity
Secretary of the CPC, Mr.
Rotimi Fashakin, had
condemned the jonathan
administration saying that
it was committed to
responsible governance,
hence it cannot be trusted.
"All along, as a party, we
knew the idea of SURE was
a knee-jerk response to
the people's protest and
not a well thought-out
intervention to stymie the
dire impoverishment of
the people,"
Fashakin said.
Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin,
President, Campaign for
Democracy, said it was
obvious from the
beginning that Jonathan
was not ready for any
SURE.
"They never meant it
(SURE). It was just
propaganda to make
people swallow poison.
Corruption still persists so
how can anyone trust the
regime to implement
SURE. Cosmetic palliatives
can never cushion any
effect," she said.
Many other people have
also advised Jonathan to
revert to 65 naira per litre
now that he cannot
continue with the SURE
programme before he
faces another battle.