Fuel Price Hike: We’ll shut Down Nigeria – Labour

We Have The Best Of Intentions But Negotiations Continue – FG

The Federal Government may have intensified strategizing against the Labour movement to thwart plans of a nationwide strike in protest over increase in the prices of petroleum and the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, even as the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC remain adamant.
In a seeming contradictory position to its earlier acceptance of the price hike, the NLC and the TUC have called out Nigerians for a nationwide strike by Wednesday unless the price of Petroleum is reversed.
Indications to the plans by Government to however thwart the strike emerged following widespread sponsored public
opinion on the non desirability of the strike, and poisoning public opinion over the matter, by groups ostensibly sponsored by the Government.
nationalTRAIL however learnt that, efforts to get the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC to back down on their resolve to call out Nigerians for a protest against the recent fuel price hike, after their initial reluctance may have failed, as the movement has vowed a total shut down of the Nigerian economy, until the Federal Government reverses the hike.
Our correspondent reports that even with the heavy mobilization by the Government to frustrate the strike, the two unions appear determined to send the right message to Government that, it has no right to add to the suffering of Nigerians who are finding it difficult to survive in the face of economic down turn.
President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Waba told nationalTRAIL that they shall resist all forms of intimidation or tricks to frustrate the strike in accordance with the resolve of the collective national executive committee, NEC, resolutions, stressing that labour will not fold its arms when the wrong policies are being announced without concrete arrangements to cushion the effects of such policies.
According to them, it is contradictory that the APC which discouraged the increase of fuel prices before has made a u-turn, pursuing that dreaded path, without recourse to the sufferings of Nigerians, most of whom can barely feed themselves.
Our correspondent reports that, the meeting between labour and the Government was turbulent, as government representatives on the negotiating table were trying to arms twist labour into reneging on the strike, while labour on the other hand stuck to their positions as being the voice of other Nigerians.


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