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We call on NLC and TUC to Declare A ‘Day of Mass
Mobilization’ with 24-hour Warning Strike
Press Statement
The Socialist Party
of Nigeria (SPN) strongly rejects any attempt of governments at all levels to
increase the pump price of petrol under the guise of removing fuel subsidy.
According to newspaper reports, the Federation Account Allocation Committee,
comprising state governments and federal government economic teams, met on 15
April, 2014 to agree to total removal of the so-called subsidy and consequently
increase in fuel price. We see this as another attempt of capitalist
governments at all levels to introduce through the back door a policy that has
been overwhelmingly rejected by working class people since January 2012, when
millions of Nigerians poured to the streets to reject attempt to make life more
difficult for them.
We call on the
leadership of the labour movement and pro-labour organization to start
conscious mobilization of the working and oppressed people to reject this
policy. We call on labour movement to declare a 24-hour Warning Strike, and a
‘Day of Mass Mobilization’ with protests and rallies across the country, to
build up mass movement against this planned onslaught.
We find the argument
of the state and federal governments for the removal of the co-called subsidy
as not only ridiculous but also hypocritical. The FAAC argues that the subsidy
has become a drainpipe on the state resources, which is used to subsidize the
profits of the fuel importers. While it is true that the country’s resources
are being stolen through fuel importation; it is our contention that this is
indeed a product of the bankruptcy of the capitalist governments at all levels.
Since 2012 when NLC and TUC called off the strike and protests, no tangible
improvement has been witnessed in the conditions of the state-owned oil
corporation, NNPC, especially in terms of its refining capacity. This is the
background to the continued reliance on fuel importation. It is a shame on the
ruling l class that a country that is a leading crude oil producer cannot
refine its own oil for its citizens. Worse still, the NNPC could not even
directly import fuel need of the country such that government has to hand over
state resources to private importers under dubious fuel subsidy.
Clearly, capitalists
in government and big business deliberately destroyed NNPC with the aim of
creating cheap wealth for the rich few in importing while also diverting public
resources to private end. Nothing exemplifies than that trillions of naira that
have been looted through oil subsidy and other scams. For instance, over $7
billion was reported to have been paid for kerosene subsidy, yet the price of
kerosene has more than doubled, while EFCC has only recovered less than N5
billion from over N400 billion reported to have been looted by subsidy
fraudsters and their government allies. In fact, the House of Representatives’
Committee that probed the fuel subsidy claimed that well over N1.4 trillion
could not be accounted for in the subsidy regime. Just recently, the ousted CBN
governor announced that over $20 billion could not be accounted for by NNPC. It
is not surprising that the FAAC, which is composed of anti-poor capitalist
elements and treasury looters, is not so concerned about wastage and could not
demand the immediate recovery of these monies, but would rather demand further
economic attack on the working people.
The same state
governments that were so much “concerned” about wealth disparity has not
opposed the huge salaries and emoluments for politicians, which gulp as much as
N1 trillion yearly. The argument that ending subsidy regime will provide money
for state governments to embark on pro-poor people’s policies is false and
fraudulent. According to the FAAC, about N956 billion supposedly saved under
the SURE-P has been shared by federal and state government since 2012; yet
there is practically nothing to show by any tier of government for this huge
amount. Millions of people are still unemployed, infrastructures are still
decrepit, minimum wage for workers has not been fully implemented while
pensioners continue to die in misery. At the same rate, public education is
being daily priced out of the reach of the poor and working people while health
facilities are still in horrible states across the country. Epileptic power
supply has only got worse. Now, the same set of politicians that have
mismanaged public funds expect working and poor people to pay more for their
failure and looting?
For us in the SPN,
while we reject handing over public resources to a fraudulent fuel-importing
cartel, we at the same time fiercely oppose any attempt at adding to the
suffering of the people through obnoxious hike in fuel prices. We demand that
building of new refineries, and NNPC and nation’s refineries must be placed
under democratic control of workers so as to ensure adequate refining capacity
to supply cheap fuel for all Nigerians without need for importation. We demand
that oil sector should be put under democratic public ownership, as a way of
ensuring that the resources of the country are used for the interests of the
majority.
We hold that the
latest attempt of the state and federal governmentsto increase fuel prices has
further shown that capitalist politicians in all the ruling political parties
are united in their anti-poor policies and ideologies. This is clearly shown by
the fact that none of the so-called opposition-controlled state governments
opposed this planned assault at the FAAC. The leading capitalist opposition
party, APC, despite blowing hot against removal of subsidy, has its governors
agreeing to the removal of subsidy at the FAAC.
Thus, we call on
labour movement to begin the process of building political alternative through
a new Working People’s Party on socialist program, which will aim to oust the
current set of anti-poor and corrupt capitalist politicians at all levels, and
establish a working people’s government committed to the welfare of the people.
We in the SPN are prepared to work with labour movement towards this end.
Segun Sango
National Chairperson
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