The Organised Labour has expressed doubt on the sincerity of the interventions President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rolled out in his national broadcast to Nigerians to cushion the effects of his administration’s policies on the citizens.
This is just as the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has urged President Tinubu to act fast to save millions of Nigerians from starvation and hardship.
Vowing to proceed with its planned protest over the removal of petroleum subsidy, the Organised Labour said what the President told Nigerians was neither here nor there considering that after spending two months in office, there was no concrete measures to bring immediate succour to the people.
Tinubu had, in his broadcast, said his administration was monitoring the effects of the exchange rate and inflation on gasoline prices with a pledge to intervene “if and when necessary.”
But addressing reporters after the resumed meeting of the Presidential Steering Committee on Palliatives, held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, said the plan for workers to proceed on a peaceful protest from tomorrow had not changed.
Ajaero, who dismissed fears that the peaceful protest could be hijacked by hoodlums, said that had never happened in the history of workers’ protest.
He, however, said it was the responsibility of security agencies to provide security for the protest to protect the workers.
He expressed doubts about President Tinubu’s ability to control inflation and gasoline prices due to the unification of the exchange rate.
He said the meeting was adjourned to 12noon today to enable the labour leaders to listen to the president’s national broadcast on Monday.
Reacting to Tinubu’s plan to intervene on exchange rate over inflation and high cost of gasoline prices, Ajaero said: “By the time you have a single market and you are not having anything that has a comparative advantage, your energy is import driven, then how are you going to control it? How are you going to control somebody that exchanged dollars at about 900 (naira)? Are you going to tell him to sell below the price?
“How are you going to tell even NEPA (DisCos) today, with the cost of production not to increase tariff? Even corn in the villages that was sold at N18, 000 by February, now it’s about 56,000. How are you going to control it?”
The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the government was dealing with the oil cabals that had brought the economy to its knees.
Asked whether the oil cabals were more powerful than the security and government, he said, “Yes they are and that’s what the government is dealing with. First of all, remove the subsidy, that’s the first step.”
The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, pleaded with the organised labour to give the administration little chance to fix the economy. He said President Tinubu inherited a bad economy that he is working hard to fix.
In a statement on Monday by its Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, NEF said it became necessary to speak especially at a time when the president was forming his cabinet so that Nigerians would see improvements in the manner decisions and plans of the administration were being handled.
“We believe that the administration has erred in embarking on major decisions before it even took its first faltering steps. Attempts to correct mistakes have not been very successful, and these have been made worse by the barrage of plans and policies being hinted at, which will make life even more intolerable for the Nigerian.
“Where efforts have been made to correct mistakes, they appeared too hastily decided and will, in the long term, do little to relieve the desperate challenges of daily living of Nigerians.
“Next, the administration must hasten to provide relief to millions of Nigerians who are facing imminent starvation and total loss of any means to earn an honest living,” the forum said.
It said the amounts being handed over to state governors to design palliatives were unlikely to make the type of impact that should keep hungry and desperate population patiently waiting.
It asked the president to cultivate the values of respect for the citizens and adopt flexible policies going forward.
The forum also urged Nigerians to be patient with the administration and avoid illegal actions that would worsen the current situation.
