I am totally against nlc calling off the strike, the strike is uncalled for in the first instance, and i am beginging to think that all what they wanted to do is to also flex their muscle to know that they too are in existence and i wont be suprise if they are warming their way to people so that they too can contest next election as the governor of their respective states, the only loser in this is the poor masses which the two parties are clamining to be fighting for

yup, the strike was political, Constructively, the on-going strike over fuel prices is a protest against the Obasanjo government, even out of power. they got their 15% and ego back.

Sunday Tribune gathered that the meeting between the labour unions ended almost in a deadlock as the NLC was ready to agree to N70 per litre while the TUC was ready to shift ground to about N67.80 which would be half way between the two divides.


It was also gathered that at the meeting of the Labour union, Chief Anthony Anenith, the currents chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP and Senator David Mark, the Senate President met with the labour leaders before they moved en-masse to Aso Villa at about 7.30 p.m on Saturday night.


Sunday Tribune also gathered that part of the problems that created a divide among the labour leaders was the suspicion of ethnic sentiments that crept in among the leaders.


There was also a reported important phone call that the NLC president, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, received from Katsina while negotiation was on.


The Nigerian president, Umar Musa Yar’Adua has also reportedly written a letter to the NLC on Friday night restating his position on the fuel pricing and appealing to the Labour to allow peace reign in the nation while allowing his government stand on firm footing.

nigerian strikes are like a demonstration we did when i was in alvan ikuku college of education owerri. we were asked to pay 1,500 naira exams fees so we protested that and demonstrated. at the end of the demonstration, everybody was asked to go home for one month and when we came back, we were asked to pay 1,000 demonstration fees as well as 1,500 exams fees.
most of the nigerian labour leaders do not call for strike at the right time and when they do, they don't know the right time to call it off.
in discussing strikes in nigeria, one shld be able to look back on how many times these strike issues have come up and how many times it ended with the expected results.
selfish interests in nigeria takes more ground than national interests.
at the end of the day, the labour leaders will be compensated and the strikes will be called off leaving the common man with nothing to celebrate at the end of the day.

I hope the Niger Delta Militants are learning from this strike

Violence solves nothing.

dblock i think you spoke too soon, the agitation will get worse, Militants vow to kill 12 AGIP staff
http://www.tribune.com.ng/24062007/news/news13.html

I won't comment. I have been ban before for going offtopic

I think the true situation is our lack of focus and piorities in this country.Really think about it Obasanjo increases a wk to leaving office so when yda comes in he'll reduce and give the whole nation fuel to worry about while black market from the top thrives and friends of govt are making back the monies they invested in PDP campaigns anyway.when our real problems are power and Bad roads and minmum wage which the money from the crude/fuel is supposed to be taking care of in the first place.In my opinion this was a setup.We should have accepted the 65 per littre,then divert all our energies into asking and if need be stricking for all the profit to be put into power and give them an altimatum as to when we expect Nigeria to have constant and uninterupted power.Then we would have started the race to the game.It is called riverse phycology.

tayog:

Troubles, its all part of signs of the last days!

lol

globalaid:

I am totally against nlc calling off the strike, the strike is uncalled for in the first instance, and i am beginging to think that all what they wanted to do is to also flex their muscle to know that they too are in existence and i wont be suprise if they are warming their way to people so that they too can contest next election as the governor of their respective states, the only loser in this is the poor masses which the two parties are clamining to be fighting for

sartorius:

yup, the strike was political, Constructively, the on-going strike over fuel prices is a protest against the Obasanjo government, even out of power. they got their 15% and ego back.

I strongly believe that you two do not live in Nigeria. For someone to say that the strike action was uncalled for, even after the unpalatable increase in prices of goods and services as a result of the hike in fuel prices, even after the unjustified increase in fuel price you can still say the action was 'political' and 'uncalled for'? Let's not even go into the sale of our national heritage (the Refineries) to a growing monopoly in Nigeria at bargain basement price. hell, if these guys wanted to operate refineries, why not give them land and special grants to build theirs, so at least we have more refineries? isn't the high fuel price because of the importation of refined fuel?

people much poorer than yourselves are suddenly paying N20 more for transport, becoming unable to afford cooking fuel (kerosene) and you seem so uncaring about the whole issue.

the truth is, short-sightedness will be the bane of Nigeria and Nigerians. Without any vehement protest, fuel price will hit N120 before the next 3 years, and we'll all be alive to see it.

The common Nigerian is a coward. that's an inescapable comment. Ukrainians camped outside in subzero weather for weeks to force a bad government out. South africans have been on strike now for weeks. strikers in france stay on protest for weeks to FORCE the government to meet most of their demands. and now, even after days of strenously advising Nigerians to stockpile food and other neccessary amenities, all we hear is 140million people (minus the elites) snivelling and whining that they want to go back to work after 3 days of 'protest'.


Yes, the strike might have seemed to place a great 'hardship' on the 'common man'. But the extra N5 increase in fuel price will place a gradual but inexorable hardship on the common man for the next 12 months (at least)

but hey, that doesn't concern you two, does it?

To start with, what the hell has a PDP board of trustees chairman doing in an NLC meeting. The fact that NLC did not excuse Tony Anenih out of the meeting shows that their general path of thought is majorly flawed.

In fact since labour is even having a meeting with Tony Anenih, leader of the main Political party, the strike may be political afterall. And why pay workers on days they go on strike? Then what sacrifice do the workers make by going on strike? This is pure madness! Workers should not be paid for days spent on strike. Strike is not leave!

Also, I do not respect a newspaper like the Sunday Tribune. Why do they keep "GATHERING THAT"? "Gathering that" in simple English means heard a rumour. What respectable newspaper would be rumour mongering at this critical time for Nigeria? Their plan is evil.

1]To the issue of fuel price, whosoever wants to sell petrol in Nigeria at N70 will be losing N25 per litre. Something must be done about this. For the longest time, government has borne this cost but it will not continue anymore. For those of you who do not know, or who refuse to know, the reason the government keeps fixing fuel price is to peg it at a rate where the marketers will not exploit the masses, where they can still give the masses a fair subsidy to shield them from the realities of the free market and finally to also set a price that will not be so low as to become unprofitable to the marketers and potential local refiners ultimately driving them out of business.
Reality check: an EVA BOTTLE (1.5litres) of kerosene was N180 in the market before the fuel price increase. ie N120 /litre from the market and dealers when the official price was about N60. Why is that? Do people believe that if five private refineries are producing only Kerosene in Nigeria and there is excess supply all over the country whereby anyone can walk to any filling station and buy at an official price of N100 /litre, it would be bad?
Now we end users are buying kerosene at N120 /litre comfortably (double the official price) because we know that it is not available. Would it be bad if we could buy it at the free market price of N100 and have it available in every nook and cranny?
This is the problem Nigeria is trying to solve, but the government is going about it completely wrongly. LET'S BE REALISTIC AND PRACTICAL.

2] we have about $45 billion dollars foreign reserve of which we only need $30 billion for our urgent imports. We get a lot of dollars everyday from our exports that will keep our supply of foreign exchange stable. Then again having so much foreign exchange just encourages Commercial Banks to continue ROUNDTRIPPING.
Now, since the government knows that this increase in fuel price will be of long term benefit, there seems to be no reason why they cannot take out the excess $15 billion foreign reserve to increase government workers' salary to the minimum pay in in the private sector. This will see the minimum wage move to about N20,000 which the minimum paid to factory workers in the private sector. INCREASE THE WORKERS' SALARIES.


3]Private Refineries Should be allowed to refine and sell petroleum products at free market price. They can sell Kerosene and possibly Diesel in The Nigerian market as it may be profitable to them, but they should be allowed to sell Petrol and the other fuels to neighbouring African countries at the international market rate. Gradually, the government can allow them to open their fuel stations where they will sell at the free market prices. Generally, N100 /litre of each petroleum product. So there would be the regular filling stations selling at N70 / litre where fuel is hardly available, and the queues are never ending, and there will be the local refineries' filling stations where fuel will be sold at N100 /litre, fuel will always be excessively available and there will be no queues. They people will now individually have to choose. This is what deregulation truly means. IMPLEMENT THE MUCH TALKED ABOUT DEREGULATION.

4]Very few people know how much Nigeria makes yearly. Nobody knows the amount in the Federation Account. Very few people understand why the fuel prices just increase. Nobody knows what their Constitutional Rights really are. Nobody knows how much NEPA, NTA, NITEL and NNPC make yearly. Very few people at the very top know the goals of the Nigerian state for this year and how it plans to achieve it so that they can know what role to play. Nobody knows anything! Ignorance here, ignorance there, ignorance everywhere. Mostly among the educated, because it is better not to know at all than to know little. It makes me wonder what the NTA is for. Rather than educate the people with entertaining documentaries on how Nigeria will work, NTA is feeding us with propaganda. Propaganda that is totally needless. People live in the reality of things everyday so what good would any propaganda be. If I see 2 hours of electricity daily, and there are policemen collecting N20 at road blocks, what difference would it make if NTA says it's not so? Would I then believe them rather than the truth. Let's face it, Nigeria is not even developed enough for propaganda so I don't know what they are doing. We have to start seeing more of programs like Small Business 2000, Senate 109, documentaries on manufacturing and entrepreneurship, entertainment in the form of Nigerian musicals and Sports. In short, they should get Ben Bruce back to run NTA and sell 49% stake in it. So that in search of profitability, its management will seek to produce quality educative, entertaining and informative programmes. So that the masses are aware of their environment and realise that the aim of this country is not to stay afloat. KEEP THE PUBLIC INFORMED.

5]The VAT paid in Nigeria is totally ridiculous. VAT is a tax on manufacturing final goods from raw materials purchased. Most goods consumed in Nigeria are not manufactured here and their VAT are completely paid up in the exporting country(which should not even be so). But then, what VAT should I pay on a Nokia phone? No part of it was manufactured in Nigeria so what VALUE ADDED are we talking about? What we are paying in Nigeria is a SALES TAX, a tax on every good sold, which has been found worldwide to be a massive failure. Elevates smuggling, exercebates inflation and encourages tax evasion and smuggling. The VAT in itself is known to cause DEADWEIGHT LOSS and is also a REGRESSIVE TAX (doesn't consider level of income for rich and poor). The only VATtable goods in Nigeria are those whose final products are manufactured in Nigeria, viz traditioal wears, housing estates, food in restaurants, beer, newspapers, biscuits, cigarettes and a few couple more. The Government should dialogue with the various unions representing the people (not just NLC, TUC, ASUU et al). The representatives of the NURTW, Landlord Associtions, SUG, NIJ, ICAN, NBA, MAN, every major union will have 2 representatives and they will deliberate for a whole week. The Federal Government should offer a total eradication of VAT from all non-VAT products(which is 90% of products consumed) then increase goverment workers salary to par with the minimum obtainable in the private sector i.e 250% salary increase with immediate effect. In exchange for a total removal of subsidies on all petroleum products 6 months after the salary and VAT changes have come to effect. It should be a fair bargain. That is what achieving ends politically means. POLITICIANS SHOULD BE POLITICAL.

6]Then in general, there should be an added level of abountability, transparency and responsibility among Nigerians. Stiff penalties would be in place for misconduct. If anyone is found guilty of financial fraud, there should be a minimum of 2 years imprisonment if all of the finances are recovered. There should also be a penalty for economic sabotage (including some higher level of economic fraud, vandalisation of infrastructure and perpetuation of artificial scarcity) which will range from 15 years imprisonment to life whether the crime was averted or not. Even a case of Mismanaging Funds, whether in a private company or a government ministry, should be punished with Demotion, 6 months imprisonment or a fine equivalent to the total loss resulting from such mismanagement. These steps will keep those that will want to seek dubious means of profiteering in check. CRIME SHOULD BE ADEQUATELY PUNISHED.

Generally Nigeria will move forward rapidly, the $15billion taken from the foreign reserves to pay the initial rise in workers' salaries will be recovered in threefold by the middle of next year, by 2010, Nigeria would be a 100% refined petroleum products/ 0% crude exporting country, crude byproducts industries such as plastics industries will thrive, the IPPs will have adequate fuels to generate electricity, more than 3 million jobs will be created by the Refineries, IPPs and associated industries, and Nigeria will live HAPPILY EVER AFTER.


PS: adapted from a recent post I made on another thread

@texazzpette

I strongly believe that you two do not live in Nigeria. For someone to say that the strike action was uncalled for, even after
the unpalatable increase in prices of goods and services as a result of the hike in fuel prices, even after the unjustified
increase in fuel price you can still say the action was 'political' and 'uncalled for'? Let's not even go into the sale of our
national heritage (the Refineries) to a growing monopoly in Nigeria at bargain basement price. hell, if these guys wanted
to operate refineries, why not give them land and special grants to build theirs, so at least we have more refineries? isn't
the high fuel price because of the importation of refined fuel?

You may be missing the point. The question was whether the strike was necessary given the fact that the same concessions
that were made by government the night before the strike commenced were the same ones that NLC ended up with. What
kind of bargaining strategy was that? Lets not get emotional here about the actions or inactions of government, do you go
on strike for the sake of going on strike or do you embark on a strike to extract concessions?

Also, If the true intent of the NLC was to better the welfare of the entire masses, why were they so hell bent on sustaining
the 15% salary increase in federal government workers? What percentage of federal workers makes up the entire workforce?
Why subject the rest of the nation to secure this victory when they could have abandoned this demand and pushed harder
to get the fuel price reinstated to N65 instead?

I don't think there is a chance of reducing to 65 Naira, the NLC guy was just trying to make a name for himself.

Both LABOUR AND GOVT did their work well.

Kingibe was supposed to be the VP to MKO Abiola perhaps from 1992 to 2000 (2 terms)

It therefore means that if he had such opportunity, he would had increased fuel price to N100 before leaving office.

Remember, Obasonjo cancelled all the contracts, national awards, sales of oil blocks all done by Gen. Abdulsalami before leaving office, why can't the same be done by Yaradua. Why this flimsy claim that sales of the Refineries cannot be revoked as it wil amount to "BREACH OF CONTRACTS".

I think we still need to pray harder for Nigeria.

The strike is over yes but why are we still buyin fuel for 70 naira per litre.
D way forward is to let private hand handle the petroleum industry.It is a very good step in d right direction.And it will save us wasted time striking.d annoyin thing about d NLC is dat they r not organised they say something in lagos nd some else in abuja.if  there is goin 2 be a strike it should have one voice ,and meaningful agendas.

why does te federal government control the price of petrol?

because it owns the refineries, imports the refined products and controls the fuel supply infrastructure, until those are taken out of govt hands it will continue

@pastorking

it is a very inhuman act for you to suggest that every new president should seize oil blocks and resell. Nigeria will lose credibility and nobody would want to do business in Nigeria permanently. This will ultimately affect the citizenry. So instead of buying oil blocks companies will prefer to sent it for 4 years. During those 4 years they will suck as much fuel as is mechanically possible.

Abdulsalam must have sold those oil blocks in a hurry in the most dubious manner possible, and at rock bottom prices. That is why you see that the companies Obasanjo seized the oil blocks from are taking heart.

2] we have about $45 billion dollars foreign reserve of which we only need $30 billion for our urgent imports. We get a lot of dollars everyday from our exports that will keep our supply of foreign exchange stable. Then again having so much foreign exchange just encourages Commercial Banks to continue ROUNDTRIPPING.
Now, since the government knows that this increase in fuel price will be of long term benefit, there seems to be no reason why they cannot take out the excess $15 billion foreign reserve to increase government workers' salary to the minimum pay in in the private sector. This will see the minimum wage move to about N20,000 which the minimum paid to factory workers in the private sector. INCREASE THE WORKERS' SALARIES.

So we should spend 1/3rd of our savings on salary increases for Govt workers who do not represent more than 5% of Nigeria's population? I doubt if Govt workers are even more than 1% of the populace.I guess some people learnt no lesson from the Udorji Awards.

Generally Nigeria will move forward rapidly, the $15billion taken from the foreign reserves to pay the initial rise in workers' salaries will be recovered in threefold by the middle of next year, by 2010, Nigeria would be a 100% refined petroleum products/ 0% crude exporting country, crude byproducts industries such as plastics industries will thrive, the IPPs will have adequate fuels to generate electricity, more than 3 million jobs will be created by the Refineries, IPPs and associated industries, and Nigeria will live HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

This is June 2007.You feel confident that we can provide 2million b/d refining capacity within 36 months?  

bj247:

I don't think there is a chance of reducing to 65 Naira, the NLC guy was just trying to make a name for himself.

There is a way.Some days ago the fmr Minister of Petroleum resources came out to say we can buy fuel for N50-N55 a litre.Its d govt nt wanting to do what is right.I still dnt get why NLC had to call of the strike cos the actual reason for going on strike was not met.It wldnt have been bad if they sold fuel for N67.50 cos then coins comes into play.Its sad though dt people up there are not giving a listening ear to the masses out there.

The NLC guy was not making a name for himself he was jst making it known that his administration is nt prepared to take nonesense from the govt.

God help us in Nigeria.

@I-man

Our foreign reserve is only a part of our total account balance ( Federation Account). The foreign reserve is and Amount set aside by the CBN to cater for its liabilities and also control the value of the Naira.

Nigeria has the 27th highest foreign reserve in the world. Higher than that of Sweden, Israel or Saudi Arabia. Higher than South Africa's and Ukraine's but that does not make Nigeria any richer than these countries. It doesn't make our currency stronger than theirs either. There has also never been any point in time that Nigeria actually needed up to $20 billion at a time for its liabilities. So I still think it is reasonable for the government to set aside $15billion from our foreign reserves in order to increase salaries, paving way for total deregulation of fuel prices.

If the government actually believes the policies it is presently implementing are going to reap these massive benefits on the long run, then definitely the government should have no problem sacrificing $15billion which it will recover many times over. N20,000 ($160) minimum wage for public workers per month is only fair. In the private sector, some companies offer about N40,000 minimum wage per month. Besides remember that this $15 billion will pay government workers salary for more than a year.

About the refining capacity, India has a Refinery that produces 600,000 barrels a day. By 2009/2010 it will have a capacity of 1.2 million barrels a day. Just building one of that in Borno State (it's better to built refineries on desert-type land) proves adequate. Then the rest like 10 smaller refineries can each produce 100,000 barrel per day. It's generally going to take about 30 months, but before then, we can rely on Dangote's. It's very feasible. Very feasible as long as government holds minority or no shares in the refineries. It'll work.

wow,i am so happy the strike is off,but did nlc really hit it on the govt. i think they shouldnt have relented until the price of fuel is brought down to 65 naira,the did achieve some of their goals though,but i thought our two day of suffering will be really worth our while,

Well there is no need to cry over spilt milk now.

Falae had said it all, Nigeria did not need fuel price indreamnet, is it a most to have the same price with those country country that did not have oil?, Haba is just like a farmer that harvest maize every month that want to sell at the same price with another that always buys for his needs,

Yar Adua pls thinks about this ooooo, Oil plenty for Niaja, why killing and suffering ourselves upon what we have in abundance, please pity the masses, may God save us from the hands of the wicked leaders we have.

@spaceworld

Please analyse your maize theory again because I don't see any logic connecting that to fuel price hike. Currently US produces more than 5 million barrels of crude per day. That's twice what Nigeria produces. Yet they sell refined products according to demand and supply.

So please analyse this your maize farmer logic properly so I may understand.

NLC has FAILED in its duties to the Nigerias,they went on strike just for the sake of it,they had no intention of convincing F.G to revert the fuel price,they paralyzed all activities for 3 days without achieving their set goals.
Transport fares has gone up from fair to worse,it is now trice the normal price.
Infact,i didn't see any reason for the the strike,cause it is TOTAL FAILURE.

The last 3-days strike is totally baseless bcoz all these demands had been granted then. The strike has really achieved and is comendable anyway. We hope for better in future. It seems the President/present administration is damned too slow in adressing issues. The next issue is ASSU Strike. What is the situation of things regarding the strike?

For God sake, work, work, work; everyday work. NLC had planned a one week holiday, bought adequate fuel, went shopping for food, rented a couple of DVDs, only for government to make massive concessions. What kind of last minute party pooper is this government sef. Labour just had to make do with a 3 day break plus weekend. That's fair. Look at anybody going to work today, see how refreshed they are. Abeg they deserve the break jare.

I just hope next time they want to rest they can just beg the Federal Government for emergency public holiday. There's no need for all this economy crumbling tactics that scared the whole world and took crude prices to $71. All they needed was to ask.

its only today people will realize how much was lost. i just realized mine

I say I have personally lost more than N70,000 that I had to scrounge to get in order to prepare documentation, draft proposals, spent on courier services, spent on trips for market research, and obtained endorsement from media partners. I was supposed to submit on Thursday, but NLC rewarded us first with transportation difficulties for 2 weeks, then finally a strike.

Well, I will start all over again. Though it won't cost me as much as the first time, but I just hope my sponsors will understand and not completely call off the deal. Well if they do call it off, then my crew would have lost N2.07million. I hope not though, but I praise the almighty NLC. They truly have the power to do and undo.

I think NLC did their best to get what we have now- the 10point agreement / agenda with the FG, even though the pump price of fuel is still @ N70 but i think looking at it from a broader point of view, it was a fair fight. Atleast we are sure that the pump price of fuel will remain N70 for the next 12months

lufe4u