NIGERIA MASTERWEB DAILY NEWS

*Nigeria: Subsidy - Labour’s Premature Truce With Govt

By Amiru Adamu

The removal of fuel subsidy will go down in the history of Nigeria, as one of the most unpopular policies ever imposed by a government on its people. Nigerians kicked against the policy from day 1of its proposal, to the first of January when it was imposed on unsuspecting Nigerians. The regrettable announcement made by the PPPRA triggered N65 to a whopping N146 per litre overnight. The impact of the subsidy removal was immediately felt, as many Nigerians who had travelled to their hometowns for the Christmas and new-year celebrations were stranded due to lack of enough transport fare or enough fuel money, for their “Tokunbo” cars. (The pro-subsidy officials called them exotic.)

As expected the Nigerian labour organisations, NLC/TUC, challenged the government, accusing it of breaching the agreements reached at their discussions over the removal of the subsidy. They therefore called on the government to revert to the old price or face a mass strike action. The government’s refusal to heed the call by the labour unions prompted the call and declaration of a nationwide strike and mass protests by the labour unions. Though fearful of the labour unions because of their reputation of backing out at the crucial moments, Nigerian youths and civil society groups took a leap of faith and mobilized their members unto the streets of Nigeria. Social networks such as facebook and twitter served as the information outlets of the protest especially when most television stations and newspapers turned pro subsidy and anti masses overnight. ( Continues below….. )

Photo Above: Fuel Protesters Burn Tyres in Lagos

The protest gathered momentum and the death of protesters in Lagos, Kwara and Kano further fuelled the youths to troop out in-mass to the streets .Though the protests were about subsidy removal, some historic moves were made by the youths with the signing of the Kano covenant, which mandated the Christian youths to protect Muslims while they pray and the Muslims to also protect the Christians while carrying out theirs. The Kano agreement prompted the signing of such types of agreements by the protest groups all over the country. While all these activities were going on, a Nigerian youth, activist writer and poet, named Gimba Kakanda led a group of Muslim youths in Minna to circle a church and use themselves as human shields in a gesture of solidarity and brotherhood.

While the protests were going on with increased number of protesters and additional demands such as accountability and reduction in the cost of governance, the labour unions as the arrows of the protests were sitting with the government. The meetings were continually being deadlocked or so we were told. Anyone who followed the subsidy debate on and offline, will agree that the protesters were highly suspicious of the labour and were afraid of being sold out cheaply by them. But the labour unions kept assuring Nigerians that “it is N65 per litre or nothing”. The fears of betrayal expressed by Nigerians were proved right, when the NLC/TUC suddenly called off street protests after a meeting with the government officials. They later went ahead to accept an offer of N97 per litre from the government, without consulting with the masses whom they claim to represent. To add insult to injury, the trade unions called off the nationwide strike just as Nigerians were beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In their defence, NLC/TUC claimed they called off the strike action and protests to save the lives, as according to them the government is willing to use extreme and deadly force to stop the protests. Many Nigerians including myself regard NLC/TUS’s actions as a betrayal of the trust we had in them. Many are of the opinion that had it been the strike and protests have continued, we will have forced the government to revert to the old price of N65 per litre. The labour unions should have known that any government willing to use deadly force in order to achieve its set goals cannot be expected to negotiate without any form of pressure.

Nigerians, especially the youths, are disappointed with the behaviour of the unions. They kept asking why the NLC/TUC pushed and assured them to commit themselves to a struggle that cost the lives of some youths, only to turn around and desert them halfway into the journey to the Promised Land.

Amiru Adamu is the publisher of Northern Wind Magazine.

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