•Labour seeks prosecution of fuel subsidy ‘thieves’
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said yesterday that the Federal Government must take necessary steps to dismantle the cabal in the downstream sector of the oil industry in Nigeria if the increasing cases of petroleum scarcity is to be checked.
The Congress frowned at illicit financial flow out of the country, adding that such action was aimed at further pauperising the country and asked the government to commence the process of investigation on the Nigerians named in the Panama Papers scandal or any other scandal connected therewith.
In a communique at the end of its Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Abuja, the Congress accused the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu of making himself the Sole Administrator of the nation’s oil sector by weakening and bringing under the control of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources agencies in the Ministry that are supposed to act independently.
In the communique signed by the President of a Congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba and General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, the Congress accused the management of the downstream sector of the oil industry of lack of transparency, pointing out that there was criminal power-play in the sector between the key players and a cabal that places its selfish interest above that of the nation.
The Congress lamented that cases of those who corruptly abused the subsidy process which came to light following the nation-wide protest against price-increase and public hearings at the National Assembly in 2012 have not been diligently prosecuted.
Stressing that Dr. Kachikwu has become the virtual Sole Administrator of the industry, given that the boards of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) remain unconstituted, the Congress argued that other regulatory agencies, such as DPR, which are expected to function independently have either been sidelined, weakened or brought under the control of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
The NLC Central Working Committee also argued that the review of petroleum product’s prices and templates without recourse to the board of the PPPRA is a violation of the PPPRA Act, calling for the immediate reconstitution of the boards of the PPPRA and NNPC in accordance with the extant laws of the land.
It called for a speedy end to the scarcity of fuel, which has unleashed unimaginable hardship on the people with collateral damage to the economy and asked for diligent prosecution of those found wanting or culpable in the subsidy scams.
While expressing concern over the ceaseless incidence of illicit financial flows out of Africa in general and Nigeria in particular via tax evasion, avoidance, inversion and other acts of criminality, the Congress observed that the Panama Papers scandal in which some Nigerians have been named is a further confirmation of the findings of the Thabo Mbeki Panel on Illicit Financial Flows.
According to the NLC, if not checked, the incidence of illicit financial flows will further undermine any restorative effort by government(s), pauperise the economy as well as deepen the dependency syndrome in Africa and in Nigeria.
It called on on all African countries to put in place necessary legislations, policies and programmes that will reduce to the barest minimum incidence of illicit financial flows out of Africa and to work with the international community for the speedy and sustainable implementation of the recommendations of the Thabo Mbeki Panel on Illicit financial flows.
The Congress lamented the increasing incidence of casualisation of workers in the country, describing it as a strategy by employers to exploit workers and deny them the benefits of their labour such as fair pay, gratuity, pension and others.
It observed that induced casualisation as is practised is in violation of existing labour law, adding that this has created a situation akin to slave labour and called on the government to enforce the law on casualisation in order to free its citizens from slavery and strengthen the anti-casualisation Committee of the Congress to continually fight the menace.
The Congress said there was an increasing adoption of neo-liberal policy of outsourcing by many companies and even agencies of government and called on its affiliate unions to spare no effort at unionising workers engaged by outsourcing agencies in order to ensure fair pay and good conditions of service.
The Congress asked the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment which serves as the licensing agency of outsourcing firms to transparently develop criteria for licensing, monitoring and sanctioning of the outsourcing firms in conjunction with the tripartite partners.
It commended the National Assembly and President Muhammadu Buhari for thoroughly working on the budget and for having the courage to deal with the budget-cabal. Congress expressed the hope that the imperfections of this year’s budget will not be allowed to re-occur.
The Congress also commended President Buhari for taking bold measures aimed at rebuilding the economy, and identified these measures to include renewing or strengthening of relations with nations of worth, signing of bilateral/trilateral agreements, creation of a safe haven for investment, fighting corruption, restoring internal security, tracking and recovering looted funds and resisting pressures to further devalue the naira.
In spite of these measures, the Congress said the naira has continuedto fall against the major currencies, inflation continues to rise, and the productive sector continues to shrink with more job losses.
It called on government to consult more widely on issues of economy as well constitute an economic team (with an encompassing membership including Labour) as part of the process of fashioning out a credible/coherent economic policy capable of responding to the present challenges.
The CWC condemned the action of the Kaduna State government which they say violates labour laws and other international labour conventions which guarantee the right and protection of workers to freely associate, unionise and operate independently of government.
The Congress stressed that the directive by the Kaduna State government to workers to fill a form which requests them to say “yes/no” to belonging to unions constitutes an interference on the independence of the trade unions.
It resolved to work in collaboration with the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) to organise a one day nation wide rally and protest and another one day of national solidarity rally with Kaduna workers in Kaduna to protest the high-handedness of the government.
It also resolved to hold an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting with the leadership of the TUC to take a definite position on the planned rally aimed at forcing the Kaduna State government to rescind its decision.
It also observed that in spite of the February 8 rallies/picketing organised to protest the February 1 hike in electricity tariff, the subsequent resolutions of the two chambers of the National Assembly (NASS) calling for a reversal and the outcry of the generality of the Nigerian people, the hike has not been reversed.
It also said that in spite of the promise(s) made by Government to constitute a Committee to resolve the matter, none to date has been constituted in spite of promptings.
It resolved to call an emergency meeting of NEC in conjunction with TUC to perfect the process of a one-day national warning strike/protest to impress on government the resolve of the labour movement, civil society organisations and Nigerians not to accept the increase in tariff and the need for government to reverse the increase.
The Congress, in consideration of the painful intractable problems around the power sector, also resolved to call on government to muster the necessary courage to revisit and review the privatisation exercise of the power sector.
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