Ajaero

By Ngozi Onyeakusi…. Organised labour has condemned the federal government’s decision to fix the price of premium motor spirit popularly called petrol saying price fixing is not the same as deregulation.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Abuja on Monday, the deputy president of The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and general secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Mr. Joe Ajaero said the federal government has to make the refineries work before fixing the price.
“We say we can’t accept deregulation that it is impulse driven and that the refineries must work before you go into this and then you go into price fixing.
“Price fixing is not the same thing as deregulation. You can’t regulate in a deregulated market. If they have deregulated, the price of petrol in Sokoto will not be the same in Abuja, there will be deviation so if they go into price fixing and call it deregulation that is not acceptable to us.
“We had an agreement, we are still meeting and before we could do the next meeting you increase pump price. The best thing for that discussion to go on in good faith was to return to the point where we were before we continue discussions and that was what happened,” he said.
He said a general strike was not on the cards following the walk out on the federal government during a meeting to resolve the contending issues surrounding the increases in petroleum price and electricity tariff.
Ajaero explained that the walkout by the aggrieved union leaders could mean an expression of anger or a means to ease building tensions to reconvene on a later date, given government’s insincerity to the issues under contention.
He accused the government of reneging on an understanding reached earlier at their last meeting and proceeded to further increase the price of petrol while its meeting was inconclusive.
He said labour could not on its own declare a strike action without engaging with its members and following due process.
He stated that the proposed September 28 nationwide strike was suspended following certain agreements between the federal government and organised labour.
“The issue of whether we are going on strike immediately or not, I don’t think we operate that way in the labour movement.
“We can’t come in here to announce a strike or the next strategy as if it is just a one man organisation
“Part of what we are doing in terms of engagement is to reach out and if every other means fails, strike is usually the next option for any union. We don’t just at any slightest provocation start declaring strike, I think that is not what is on the table now but there are certain disagreements which we are trying to address.
“Walk out is not an industrial action, it is not go slow, it is not lock in. Walk out is an expression of anger, it’s another means of easing tension instead of us to be on the same table and someone stands up to insult the other, walk out also means to reconvene at a later date when the issue that led to the walk out might have been addressed either privately or publicly. Walk out is not a strike and it is not a strike motive.
“On whether Nigerians have lost faith or not, we didn’t buy it with money and we will equally not buy back their confidence with money.
“Even the last agreement there seems to be governments’ interpretation of it; either the two parties one of them seems not to understand the letters appointed to the last agreement,” he said.