AAN urges FG to lessen burdens on Nigerians, supports NLC/TUC stance

Etim Effiong

ActionAid Nigeria has urged Federal Government to listen to cries of workers and other suffering Nigerians by rescinding the increase in petrol pump price as well as revert the increase in electricity tariff.

According to AAN, though the strike has been suspended, it is still in solidary with the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress towards entrenching a better Nigeria.

In a statement signed by the country director of the AAN, Ene Obi, on Monday, it rejects in its entirety the hike in electricity tariffs by almost 100 per cent and the fuel price increase.

She added that the decision is premised on the fact that the twin decisions alongside other decisions of government including the increase of VAT by 7.5 per cent, numerous charges by commercial banks on depositors without any explanations will further impoverish Nigerian workers and citizens, including their families and numerous dependants.

However, the NLC/TUC in Ibadan went on strike on Monday, saying that they had already been buoyed for the industrial action, while those in Edo blamed the NLC/TUC National leaders, adding that they had betrayed the trust Nigerians reposed in them.

“These increases, coming amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is not only ill-timed, but it is also counterproductive. ActionAid Nigeria also observes that the privatization of the electricity sub-sector seven years down the line has not yielded the anticipated positive results. This is because through the privatization process, the entire sector was sold at about N400bn; we are also surprised that government within the last four years injected N1.5trn over and above the amount that accrued from this important asset and Nigerians are still being made to pay more.

“We are also of the opinion that the palliatives being considered to cushion the effects of increase in electricity tariff and fuel price hike will not suffice for the hardship being experienced now by the masses. Secondly, the labour movement does not trust the government because it has not honoured the promises earlier made.

“Consequently, it is doubtful that the distribution of food items, reduction of taxes on minimum wage and payment of some special allowances, workers’ involvement in ownership of housing programmes through mortgage and distribution of special buses which run on auto gas to public institutions as promised by the leadership of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila may see the light of the day.

“The government should live up to its promises. Rice was N8,000 when the government came on board: N18,000 minimum wage could buy two bags of rice, but now a bag of rice is N36,000. The current minimum wage, which is N30,000, is now $62 compared to the former that was N130. Unemployment continues to rise as we churn out more graduates into the labour market. Vulnerable Nigerians are coping with so much; please do not compound the social struggle.

“Categorically, ActionAid Nigeria posits that the increase in electricity tariff and hike in fuel price have eroded the purchasing power of Nigerian workers. We demand the reversal of the electricity tariff and request that meters be provided for all electricity consumers. More so, that there was a valid court judgment nullifying the electricity tariff. The gains made on poverty eradication by President Mohammadu Buhari and other stakeholders like ActionAid Nigeria is being eroded drastically because of monumental inflation,” Obi said in the statement.

She stated that in solidarity with the labour movement, AAN challenge and demand the reversal of the anti-masses policies of the Federal Government in order to ensure that government’s aspiration of lifting over 100 million Nigerians out of poverty abyss becomes a reality, especially now when COVID-19 has thrown millions further down the poverty line.

The statement added, “We demand that all refineries be made functional without delay to create more employment for Nigerians.”