Lessons From Anti-Subsidy Removal Strike, Protests

Reprieve finally returned to an embattled Nigeria last Monday, after a crippling week-long nationwide strike called by both the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC). The period witnessed street protests of a disturbing kind in some states like Lagos, Kano, Niger, Kaduna, Kwara, and Kogi, and held a promise of being hijacked by hoodlums and other self-seeking politicians.

The nationwide strike ordered by the organised labour was primarily intended to register the workers’ displeasure over the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol. From the pump price of N65 per litre, the commodity officially sold at N141 per litre while Nigerians in some parts of the country spent between N250 and N300 to buy a litre of petrol on account of the artificial scarcity created by marketers.

With the protest called by labour against the order of the National Industrial Arbitration Court, Nigeria became a theatre of war of words which sometimes degenerated into violence in some states.

In Edo, 50 hoodlums who capitalised on the protest to loot and dispossess others of their belongings were arrested by the police. One each was killed in Illorin, Kwara State and Kano, Kano State while several were wounded in Kano, Kaduna, and Kogi, among others, some of them, critically.

Ordinarily, the deregulation of the downstream sector by any government is a positive step towards conserving national reserves, rechanneling excess funds towards infrastructural development and above all, put to  work existing refineries. Such projections are also meant to attract direct foreign investments, enhance construction of new refineries, create more jobs, widen the productive sector, and help raise the value of the Naira against the Dollar and other currencies.

Convinced that it was the germane thing to do, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, after extensive consultations with and endorsement by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC), the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), the leadership of the National Assembly, and indeed, other stakeholders, announced the removal of subsidy on petrol, January 1, 2012, through the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

Frankly, the review ought not come to many Nigerians as a surprise since it was clear, prior to that announcement, that the 2012 Budget which had already been presented to the National Assembly made no provision for subsidy.

However, the measure triggered spiraling effect on transport fares across the country, and ignited what could go as a national fury, with many demanding immediate reversal to the status quo ante. Labour’s major argument was hinged on the fact that appropriate palliatives were not yet in place, to prompt increase in fuel price.

Another is the request that all those found to have mismanaged the subsidy funds in the past be brought to book and efforts made to resuscitate Nigeria’s four ailing refineries. But beyond labour’s genuine protests, some Nigerians virtually sought regime change, ostensibly, to get through the back door, mandate denied them by the Nigerian electorate in the last elections. They did so under the cloak of demanding good governance.

With return to reason as demanded by many well-meaning Nigerians, both labour and the Federal Government finally arrived at a meeting point, resulting in the reduction of pump price from N141 to N97 per litre of petrol. This is most commendable as the resolution clearly demonstrates the patriotism of both parties and should put to shame those who saw in the protests their own opportunity to steal a phoney populist limelight at the expense of a duly elected Federal Government.

This is why we urge Nigerians, particularly organized labour to learn a lesson or two from the last experience. Protests or national strikes of the kind called last week should be only a last resort when all benefits of meaningful dialogue seem impossible. We say so because to convoke a national strike is one thing, but to control it is another.

Beyond that, prevailing security concerns ought to have been considered and the gains of such strike weighed properly against dialogue. In the future, any national strike should follow legal guidelines put in place to ensure the sanctity of the rule of law.

While we commend labour and the Federal Government for this timely resolution of the impasse, we expect both parties to ensure that they work harder to fulfill the concessions made at the negotiating table. Labour should start now to educate the citizenry on the benefits of deregulation while governments across the nation should fast-track the required palliatives for the future.