Business
Ministry, NLC Tango Over Filling Stations Monitoring
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Rivers State, has set up a taskforce to identify the causes of the scarcity of petroleum products in the state, even as the state Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has warned labour against the move.
The 10-man petroleum monitoring taskforce was to help put a stop to the apparent artificial scarcity said to be caused by filling stations managers and petroleum independent markets.
State Chairman of the NLC, Chief Chris Oruge, said that the taskforce was charged with the responsibility of among others, monitoring filling stations and arresting managers of those of them found to be hoarding the products.
The taskforce was also to close down such filling stations in partnership with other government agencies to ensure the availability of the products in the state.
Oruge said that members of the taskforce also had the power to close down filling stations selling fuel above the Federal Government’s approved pump price of N97.00.
The NLC chairman said the organised labour has the power to protect the interest and welfare of the masses against unjust policies.
“Labour has the statutory power to protect Nigerians and we derive our power thereto from such statutory legislation by setting up taskforce in the interest of Nigerians”, he said.
However, the state Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Hon Okey Amadi has threatened to arrest any taskforce member of the organised labour seen harassing filling stations owners in the state, saying that petroleum was on the exclusive list of the 1999 Constitution’s second scheduled and therefore outside the purview of labour.
A source from the ministry who expressed the commissioner’s position shortly after the inauguration of the NLC taskforce said the NLC had no constitutional power to set up any petroleum taskforce to regulate the dealing of petroleum products in the state.
The source queried, “can the state chairman of NLC provide the relevant sections of the constitution where the organised labour derived their power to set up petroleum taskforce?”. According to him, “we are in a democratic setting, our behaviours and actions must be regulated by laws of the country”.
But the NLC while reacting to the comments credited to the commissioner said the setting up of the petroleum taskforce by labour had woken the commissioner from his slumber and inaction to his social contract responsibility with the people of the state.
In a statement, the NLC chairman said recently, the Commissioner had done nothing to check the long queues occasioned by the shortage of petroleum products in the state, “it is only when labour took the bull by the horn to set up a taskforce with the intention to unravel the reason behind the artificial scarcity, that he now said NLC had no power to set up a taskforce”.
Oruge said, “it is not out of place for organised labour to set up a petroleum monitoring taskforce to check the ugly trend of artificial scarcity of fuel”.
Comrade Oruge stated that the NLC fought the Federal Government which brought down the pump price to N97.00 against the Federal Government initial N141.
According to him, labour has the right to ensure that there is no economic sabotage in all ramifications to engender hardship in the country.
Oruge said that it was not the first time labour was setting up a petroleum monitoring taskforce to monitor filling stations in the state, insisting that a precedent had been set over the years.
The NLC boss further stated that the commissioner had no right to challenge the statutory power of labour to monitor the dealing in petroleum products, adding that the organised labour could not fold its arms to see the masses suffer.
Also speaking, the state Chairman, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Chika Onuegbu expressed the support of TUC over the NLC petroleum taskforce.
The TUC chairman expressed surprise and dissatisfaction over the threat of the commissioner to arrest the taskforce members.
Comrade Onuegbu said the organised labour was in doubt as to whether the commissioner has a better constitutional power than the NLC or TUC in this matter especially considering that petroleum is on the exclusive list of the 1999 Constitution.
The TUC boss said that the ordinary people of Rivers State who are victims of the fuel crisis expect the NLC and TUC to ensure that they are not denied the benefits of the January 2012 general strike which gave rise to the regime of N97.00 pump price.
He further said, “the NLC and TUC have a moral duty to ensure the benefits get to the ordinary people by setting up a taskforce for that purpose”.
According to him, if the fuel crisis did not persist as it is now, there would be no need for any taskforce, stressing that the organised labour had observed that the concern of all Rivers people was how to end the fuel crisis.
He said the TUC welcomed all efforts by the various stakeholders to end the fuel crisis.
Meanwhile, a constitutional lawyer, Jab Awanen has cautioned the organised labour to always ensure that their actions were in conformity with the constitution.
He said, “NLC or TUC has no constitutional power on the issue of petroleum as it is an issue under the exclusive list of the constitution.
He said that the petroleum taskforce of the organised labour was an illegal taskforce, insisting that the state government through the commissioner has the right to arrest members of the taskforce harassing filling stations dealing in petroleum products which is under the Federal Government. Others, however, said that despite the constitutional limitation of NLC, there was need for synergy between the state government and the organised labour to ensure constant availability of petroleum products in the state to cushion the hardship currently experienced by the people.
This synergy, they said would also put an end to the unscrupulous profiteering activities of petroleum independent marketers and their cohorts at the expense of the ordinary Nigerians.
Philip-Wuwu Okparaji
Business
Food Vendors, Others Relocate To New Site At PH Airport
The raging controversy between the Port Harcourt International Airport Management and restaurants/canteen operators and theirallies over relocation has been brought under control, as the operators have commenced relocation to their structures at the new site.
Recall that there had been serious feud over a directive by the Manager of the airport, Mr. Michael Area, for food vendors and their allies to relocate to the new site.
They insisted that the new site was too distant and hence, would negatively affect patronage from customers, with possible loss.
They further also insisted that it wouldcost them much money to put up another structure, given the economic situation in the country, since the airport management did not build any structure for them, apart from providing the empty land they have to also pay for.
The situation had led to flexing of muscles, which made the Airport Manager to order for sealing of all shops, resulting in scarcity of food, as airport users could not find a place to eat, apart from the only Genesis fast food spot available.
As at last Friday, The Tide observed that most of the food vendors had transferred their structures to the new place, and had started doing business there already.
Meanwhile, customers have started settling down at the new location as they were seen patronising shops for foods and drinks, in spite of the distance.
Few of the remaining structures at the old site, The Tide further gathered, will also be removed as quickly as possible, and the owners are making efforts to get funds for the job to be done.
One of them, Mrs Aka Love explained that she was going to relocate to the new place before the end of March.
Currently, business activities at the old site have come to null, as the place which was usually a beehive of food, drinks and relaxation, has completely winded down.
By: Corlins Walter
Business
MOWCA Strengthens Maritime Crime Prevention
Secretary General of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Dr. Paul Adalikwu, has stepped up interaction with the United States Government to lift restrictions placed on some member countries allegedly implicated in illicit shipping activities.
Adalikwu, who led a delegation from the MOWCA Secretariat to the US Embassy in Abidjan for a first leg of the strategic consultation aimed at promoting seamless participation of MOWCA countries in international trade within the global maritime space, reiterated the organisation’s commitment to the best ethical and lawful maritime practices.
Addressing the U.S Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire, H.E Mrs Jessica Davis Ba, the MOWCA SG stated the organisation’s interest in promoting the International Ship and Port facility Security (ISPS) code which aims at enhancing security of vessels and their ports of call.
He expressed the commitment of MOWCA in promoting environmentally friendly, safe and cost effective shipping without any encumbrance that may limit the economic potential of member countries.
Dr Adalikwu recalled that at the instance of the U.S. Department of State invitation, MOWCA participated in the 2023 Registry Information Sharing Compact (RISC) Conference in Larnaca, Cyprus, on February 28–March 1, 2023, and a virtual meeting held on June 6 2023, with Mrs Jennifer Chalmers, Officer in change of Counterproliferation Initiative.
He recalled The U.S. DOS willingness to support MOWCA’s effort for preventive maritime security through the establishment of the Center for Information and Communication (CINFOCOM) with the aim to ensure a maritime situational awareness domain within MOWCA’s member states’ waters.
He added that MOWCA under his watch is committed to training and retraining of maritime practitioners and experts to enhance the human capital capabilities of member states.
The CINFOCOM will help prevent transnational crimes committed at sea like sanctions evasion by North Korea and other state actors, who exploit poor enforcement due diligence by ship open registries to circumvent United Nations and U.S. trade restrictions.
By: Nkpemenyie Mcdominic, Lagos
Business
Nigeria’s Public Debt Hits N97.3trn – DMO
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has hinted that Nigeria’s public debt increased by 10.7 per cent from N87.87 trillion in the third quarter of last year, to N97.34 trillion as at December 31, 2023.
DMO, in an update data released last Friday, said the increase in the debt stock was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the Federal Government to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
The office noted that the N97.3 trillion public debt comprises of domestic debt of N59.12 trillion and external debt of N38.22 trillion. The sum of $3.5 billion was used to service external debt during the review period.
“Nigeria’s Public Debt Stock as at December 31, 2023 was N97.34trillion or $108.229 billion. This amount comprises the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the 36 States Governments, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“There was an increase of N9.43 trillion over the comparative figure for September, 2023, which was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the FGN to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
“At N59.12 trillion, total domestic debt accounted for 61 percent of the total public debt stock, while external debt at N38.22 trillion accounted for the balance of 39 percent.
“Consistent with the debt management strategy, Nigeria’s external debt stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral (49.77 percent) and bilateral lenders (14.02 percent) or total of 63.79 percent which are mostly concessional and semi-concessional.
“Whilst the DMO continues to employ best practice in public debt management, the recent and on-going efforts of the fiscal authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability”, DMO stated.
By: Corlins Walter
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