By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

. . . Throws weight behind NLC, TUC on fuel subsidy

The Revolutionary Socialist Movement (RSM) has called on Nigerian people to rise up, once again, against the anti-poor, pro-rich policies of the Buhari administration.

The group in a statement signed by its secretary, Salako Kayode, said that it will actively support the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and take part in any protests aimed at building a mass movement to reject a new attack.

It recalled that the National Executive Council (NEC) of the NLC at its meeting of Friday 17th December, 2021, decided to reject and resist the planned increase in the price of fuel by the federal government.

The statement reads in part: “In a communiqué issued by the labour centre and made available after the NEC, it states that the NLC NEC has resolved, “…to organize protest rallies in all the 36 states of the federation on 27th January, 2022, which would culminate in the submission of protest letters to all the 36 State Governors and another national protest will take place on 1st February, 2022, in Abuja; and in case government decides to announce new petrol prices before the proposed protests, the protest will kick off instantly and without any further notice in every state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

“The NLC has also used the new year message to send a warning signal to the federal government, that it will face mass action if it continues to implement anti-poor policies such as the increase in fuel price.”

RSM called on the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to come out with a plan of actions to fight back against the anti-poor, neoliberal policies of the government.

It accused the federal government of always deceiving the masses by saying it is necessary to remove the fuel subsidy.

RSM said: “At the beginning of the present administration’s term, the fuel price was at N98 and today, the Nigerian people are paying N165.

“This government has increased fuel prices twice in the course of its term. Despite the protests of the NLC against the removal of the fuel subsidy, the ruling capitalist class in Nigeria is determined to do what is in the interests of their profits and of their imperialist supporters and allies.

“Just to site one example, recently the World Bank stated that ‘it is high time the Nigerian Government removed the subsidy on fuel’.

“The recent statement of the NLC should represent the beginning of the mobilization of its rank and file to prepare for a protracted struggle to stop this capitalist/imperialist agenda in Nigeria. Only through mass action can this new attack be blocked.

“The Trade Union movement in Nigeria ought to be at the forefront of this struggle. The leadership of the Trade Unions however has lost the confidence of big sections of the activists and of the working class, because of its past betrayals, like the suspension of the General Strike on 28 September, 2020.”

While welcoming all actions to resist attack on the masses, RSM harped on the need for a united struggle of all Trade Union Centers to make sure the movement was not divided or split.

It said: “Both the NLC and the TUC must reject deregulation as well as the arguments about the lack of finances that the Federal Government uses.

“They must expose and severely criticise the political elite, the Nigerian political office holders are among the highest paid in the world at the same time as applying austerity policies against working people and the poor.

“RSM will also actively support the peoples’ alternative political movement, TPAP-M, that plans protests, in order to commemorate the “Occupy movement” of the January 2012 removal of fuel subsidy struggle.

“We call upon TPAP-M to link the struggle to put an end to the high salaries and privileges of the political office holders. We call on NLC and TUC to link these struggles with the struggle against deregulation, immediate reduction of cooking gas and electricity tariff also against insecurity, repression and mass killings across Nigeria.”

It further demanded that key sectors of the economy should be nationalised and democratically controlled by elected representatives and the masses.