Fuel subsidy strike averted in Nigeria… for now
Trade unions had threatened a massive strike after President Tinubu’s remaks about eliminating the fuel subsidy.
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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has suspended the nationwide strike they had planned to begin on Wednesday due to the increase in fuel prices resulting from subsidy removal.
After hours of meeting with the government, the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, confirmed that they made the decision to allow for further consultations.
The NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) are expected to continue negotiations with the government. The TUC, a trade union federation, is comprised of 48 members unions and over 5 million workers.
They plan to meet in two weeks’ time “to agree on how to implement the new framework.”
Earlier on Monday, the National Industrial Court issued an order to the labor unions to refrain from any planned industrial action until they hear the application filed by the Nigerian government against the labor union on June 19.
Workers demands
An increase in the minimum wage and tax holidays for workers are some of the demands that the labor unions have put to the government to protect against the effects caused by the removal of fuel subsidies.
Last Wednesday, fuel marketers raised the price of petrol to at least $1 per litre across the country, representing an increase of about 200%. This has affected the cost of transportation, food items, and other commodities, while the minimum wage remains around 30,000 naira (approximately $65).
This followed newly sworn-in President Bola Tinubu’s public utterances saying that the fuel subsidy would be done away with. An off-the-cuff remark at his inauguration, “the fuel subsidy is gone,” triggered a run on fuel stations around the country. Hundreds of people then took to the streets to buy what they believed to be the last batch of fuel that was to be sold at a fixed price. There were reports of filling stations hiking the prices by more than 200% leading to panic and temporary artificial scarcity.
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Court action to stop strike
On Monday, news emerged that the court had halted the organised labor from embarking on their strike following the government approaching the courts. Justice Olufunke Anuwe of the National Industrial Court in Abuja issued the restraining order. She ordered that the planned strike scheduled for June 7 be put on hold until the hearing and determination of the main suit.
The NLC and TUC are preparing to meet with government officials to continue their discussions on the fuel subsidy issue.
Tentative agreement between government and labour
The union had already prepared what they needed to carry out the strike as they insisted that the government should reverse the fuel price from over N500 to N197.
Already, unions of some government agencies have directed their members to comply with the directive, which had taken effect from Wednesday morning.
After their lengthy discussions on Monday night, leaders of the organised labor and the government team issued a communiqué, which was read by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamola.
Nigeria’s fuel subsidy
The Nigerian government provides direct financial support to oil companies to increase affordability for ordinary Nigerians. As one of Africa’s largest producers of crude oil it relies heavily on this this for itsw economic growth. However, the country does not have its own refinery, so it has to export crude oil and import refined petroleum products. This expensive process necessitated the fuel subsidy.
The government controls the price and sets the amount that marketers should sell the fuel for. Fuel subsidies have been present in the country since the 1970s. It became a regular practice in 1977, under the regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo, with the promulgation of the Price Control Act, which made it illegal to sell certain products (including petrol) above the regulated price.
Between 2006 and 2018, Nigeria has spent about 10 trillion Naira on petroleum subsidies.
