A coalition of labour unions and civil society organisations led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) announced yesterday that it would stage a protest rally in Abuja on October 29, 2009 to protest government’s moves to deregulate the downstream oil sector.
The coalition said in Abuja that contrary to government’s claims, deregulation will only worsen the plight of Nigerians because of the attendant rise in the prices of commodities and essential services that it would create.
Speaking at a press conference, NLC’s Deputy President Peters Adeyemi said, “We are clearly opposed to it because it will further worsen the plight of Nigerians. We can’t deceive ourselves; nobody can tell us here that deregulation and price increase will not affect anything. It will affect everything that we do and that will not augur well for Nigerians.”
He added, “What deregulation means to our government is increases in price of petrol and petroleum products because there is nothing else for us to situate that statement on; you move from N65 to N94. It clearly shows that government has nothing beyond the increase in prices of petrol and petroleum products.”
He said the planned rally that will include Nigerians from all walks of life will be peaceful but would strongly reject the policy of deregulation “which would take us back to the period of long queues and hoarding and would further worsen the plight of Nigerians.”
According to Adeyemi, the proposed rally is part of the strategies mapped out by the coalition to oppose deregulation and to call for full implementation of recommendations of the Justice Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Committee as well as for an increase in wages of workers.
The coalition also expressed worry with what it termed “the unusual zeal” with which Petroleum Minister Rilwanu Lukman was pushing the deregulation agenda, saying he was doing it for selfish reasons.
“We are also worried the Minister of Petroleum appears to be driving this process so hard. We are saying that he doesn’t have the moral justification to do what he is doing because we are aware that he has vested interests in some oil companies that stand to benefit from this deregulation. Whatever policy we are going to engage in this country should be a policy that will impact positively on Nigerians and not individual interests. When government functionaries are seen to be driving the process of policy implementation because certain agencies or companies for which they have vested interests are going to benefit, it then means that the policy is about serving self interest and not in the interest of the Nigerian people.”
Representatives of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Alliance for Credible Elections and the Civic Freedom Agenda, among others, all condemned the planned deregulation just as they urged all Nigerians to converge in Abuja on the 29th of October, 2009 to protest against it.
(extracted from: daily trust)
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