The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has called on the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress to call off the ongoing strike it declared to protest the current fuel price hike from N86 and N86.50k to N145 per litre.
The former Lagos State Governor pleaded with the President of the NLC, Ayuba Wabba, and other leaders of the congress to return to the negotiation table to resolve the current industrial dispute.
The Federal Government, through the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, had said on Thursday that the government could only resume talks with the NLC if the ongoing strike was called off.
Tinubu was accompanied on the visit to the Labour House venue of the meeting by the Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, Senators Kabiru Marafa from Zamfara, Humkunyi Suleiman from Kaduna North and others.
He was received by the President of the NLC, Wabba; the Deputy Presidents of the Congress, Peters Adeyemi and Nojeem Yasin; the Chairman of the Labour and Civil Society Coalition, and a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof. Dipo Fashina; and a former Vice-President of the Congress, Isah Aremu, who is the Secretary General of the National Union of Textile Garments and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria.
The Labour leaders and their civil society allies took a break from their street protests to attend the meeting before returning to continue with the protests.
Tinubu urged the workers to continue to give the expected level of support to President Muhammadu Buhari, who according to him, would utilise available funds in the interest of the citizenry and not divert any funds for private use.
He stressed that the NLC played a major role in the emergence of the Buhari’s administration, noting that any action that would culminate in wealth dislocation was not in the interest of the citizenry.
Tinubu said that the price of the product would come down when the market was opened to competition as marketers would rather sell their products rather than hoard them in order not to owe their creditors.
He said, “My mission here is peace; my mission here is for us to return to the negotiation table. In war, like we have in Syria, what would end it after destruction? It will still end up in discussion, to have an understanding to rebuild the country.
“Let us build Nigeria, let us make Nigeria the centerpiece of Africa; let us look at the analysis and the bye products of the new refineries in this country and see. Why can’t we be the plastic centre of the continent and the world? Why is iron ore not being exploited?
“Additional investment gives you more power, gives you more influence, gives you more membership. And any dislocation of wealth in this situation will not help Nigeria. Please let us bear that in mind. It will not help Nigerians.
“Let the price be competitive. You will see, initially, it is a problem, difficult, but when the market is opened up to competition, marketers will depend on volume.
“They want to turn over their products very quickly; they don’t want them to remain in the tank farm because they owe their creditors.”
The APC chieftain appealed to the NLC, saying the party would not have won the last presidential election without its support.
He said, “You brought this government about, without your support, without your participation, we couldn’t have won the election.
“Now we have won the election, we now look at ourselves, can we manage the victory? Can we use this success to make those changes- positive and progressive change- that can work, cooperating and collaborating to make those changes to the benefit of all Nigerians?”
Tinubu added that the genuine activists in the Labour and civil society movement would agree that the issue was not about cheap oil but about the progress of the society, and the existence of disposable income that would alleviate the suffering of the people.
He said that the time had come for Nigeria to try fresh ideas as the obsolete ideas of the past had not resulted in the desired progress.
He noted that marketers had always exploited the subsidy through lack of foreign exchange, irregular supply, subsidy variation, interest and others.
Tinubu said that the population of the country and the vehicular density had moved beyond the population of the 1970s and 1980s when the four refineries were established.
He said, “We are trying to educate our children not to suffer the same problem. We want to correct their future. We want to guarantee their future.
“The same population that accommodated the early 70s and 80s is not the same population we have now. The vehicular density is not the same. And it is a sign of progress. Is our population a sign of asset or a liability? Our population is an asset to us; we are the largest economy on the continent. Why not take advantage of that? Why is diversification not being actualised? Why is it just on paper?”
Aregbesola said that they were at the Labour House ‘to appeal to the NLC under Wabba to suspend the strike and go into dialogue with government.’
He said that it was the desire of all Nigerians to have a society that would be rid of poverty and corruption.
In his response, Wabba, who said that the NLC was open to discussions, added that the congress had taken note of what Tinubu said and would take the appeal to the organs of the congress for deliberation.
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