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NIGERIAN workers' resolve to hold a rally tomorrow in Abuja against the massive fraud and other sharp practices associated with the privatisation of public institutions and companies, is unsettling the Federal Government.
Citing security reasons, the government invited the organised Labour to a meeting to explain how it will manage the protest without a breach of security.
Some officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), planners of the rally, who attended the meeting, said the rally would still hold.
The parley, which began at 3.00 p.m. in the office of the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, was held behind closed doors.
But a source said the meeting was at the instance of President Goodluck Jonathan, who mandated Wogu to meet Labour for a stop of the rally.
The source said: "The meeting was called by the minister with a view to stopping the rally. Government is disturbed that the rally might send wrong signals to Nigerians and the international community on the efforts it is making to better the lives of the people."
The NLC team was led by its President, Abdulwaheed Omar, who is also spearheading the planned protest.
Labour is staging the protest to put pressure on the Senate to ensure those who soiled their hands in the privatisation exercise are brought to book. It is also designed to avert an alleged mass sack in the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and the inability of government to tame the Boko Haram insurgency.
Briefing
The Guardian after the meeting, the General Secretary of Medical and Health Union of Nigeria ((MHUN), Marcus Omokhuale, said the minister wanted to be briefed about what the rally is about and the steps taken to ensure that it will be peaceful.
"The minister wanted us to brief him about the strike and we told him all we have done to ensure its success. The motive of the rally is to tell the Senate to go all the way and ensure that the ongoing probe of the sale of some public utilities does not go the way of the House of Representatives power sector probe. Nigerians must know what happened to the privatised enterprises. The rally will go on. All the necessary steps have been taken to ensure a peaceful rally."
The Guardian learnt that the parley between government and Labour over the planned deregulation of the pump price of fuel might have been shelved because of the absence of Jonathan and some of his key ministers, who have been detailed to lead the negotiations.
The government is also said to be worried by the national strike that could worsen the already volatile security situation in the country.
On the parley with government over the planned deregulation, Omokhuale said: "Yes, we heard that government is planning to deregulate the pump price of petrol but we are yet to get official invitation to negotiate on the matter. We know that deregulation of pump price of fuel is one delicate issue that must be handled with care. But I want to assure all Nigerians that the Labour movement will not let them down when the process begins."
Still in the oil sector, excessive bureaucracy and power play by top officials of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources are rocking the boat in the public sector of the industry.
Senior oil workers, who claimed that they are the victims of the endless intrigues, are now set to take up the officials through an industrial action.
If they made good their threat, oil production and related activities across the country might be stalled as they declared yesterday that they were ready to shutdown all facilities in the sector.
The issues in dispute are the alleged non-implementation of the new minimum wage for workers in the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and certain steps taken by the ministry's officials to frustrate the operations of the industry regulator.
For now, the protest against the non-payment of the wage has been fierce in some states, but the DPR branch of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), said yesterday that its long silence on the matter was over and would soon shutdown oil facilities to seek redress from the government.
The DPR Chairman of PENGASSAN, Mr. Isah Ibrahim, told journalists yesterday in Lagos that months after President Jonathan approved the new wage of N18,000 for the least paid Nigerian worker, they were yet to benefit from it.
He accused some top officials of the ministry of frustrating every move to make DPR work and to ensure that the wage is implemented.
According to him, the affected ministry officials had continued to sabotage the efforts of the oil regulating agency by withholding some of the documents needed to aid its operations and implement the new salary structure.
Their threat and a similar plan by the civil society groups, the NLC, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to resist the government's renewed move to deregulate the downstream sector of the industry, may take serious toll on ordinary Nigerians and the economy.
Last Sunday, TUC had declared that it would not attend the meeting called by the government for dialogue on the plan to hike the price of a litre of petrol to N150. An officer of NLC, Mohammed Kiri, empowered to attend the meeting, turned down the assignment.
PENGASSAN yesterday accused the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Sheikh Goni, of tactically halting the payment of the new salary/fringe benefit to the oil workers in DPR.
He alleged that Goni had withheld the documents for administrative approval of the salary for almost three months since Jonathan approved the pay last July.
Besides the salary and fringe benefit, Ibrahim claimed that the senior workers' promotion list submitted to Goni on April 15, 2011 is still pending, while the letters for approval to move DPR headquarters to Abuja has been with him for over two years without meaningful progress.
Ibrahim said all efforts to make Goni pass the documents to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, for necessary action had not succeeded.
The PENGASSAN official said the union would meet in Abuja today to take a final decision on the matter, adding that mobilisation at national level had reached advanced stage.
"We are ready to shutdown all the oil installations in the country, if he is not called to order. DPR controls all the 32 product terminals in the country, both onshore and offshore. We hold the key to opening the pipelines that export products and once we are on strike, all these will be shut. It is not in our interest to stall the nation's oil production, but it is the last resort we have to adopt. And we won't mind to carry out the action. How can DPR's case be different? Other parastatals have been implementing the new salary scale. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) commenced its implementation in July and the Pipelines Product Marketing Company (PPMC) is also enjoying it.
"If it not implemented this month, we are going to create disruptions in the system, and we cannot wait any longer," he said.
Ibrahim explained that "DPR administratively report directly to the Minister of Petroleum, and most of these administrative works are done by the permanent secretaries. We have been operating smoothly with several of them, but this present permanent secretary has proved to be a stumbling block for us, issues that are needed to be addressed urgently are still pending for three or four months."
When The Guardian contacted Goni on his mobile phone for his reaction, he simply said: "I don't sign salaries of workers, please contact the DPR Director for clarification."
Yesterday in Ibadan, Oyo State, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), said since government had failed to provide basic amenities for Nigerians, it should not compound their woes by increasing fuel prices or remove the subsidy.
At a media briefing at the University of Ibadan (UI), NANS Mobilisation Officer, Lisoyi Joseph, said: "Nigerian students will under no circumstance support the proposed removal of subsidy on petroleum products. Nigerians do not enjoy anything from the government. There is no free and qualitative education, constant power supply, good road network and the subsidy on petroleum products, which is the thing that they enjoy, the government wants to remove it. We have seen what was done to diesel and kerosene. They are now scarce and costlier."
The students also reviewed the state of education in the country and demanded the immediate resignation of the Education Minister, Prof. Ruqqayat Rufa'i for "performing below expectation."
The Guardian
Privatization processes in Nigeria is politically motivated, instead of patriotism to be the watch word. The dubious processes raises some eye brow.