Strike not an option

The grandstanding and recalcitrant posture by a section of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) over the futile strike action against pleas, persuasions, negotiations and court order, as a result of the price variation of petrol which is part and parcel of the on-going process to systematically deregulate the complex and often times volatile as well as unstable oil sector, which is undoubtedly the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, is totally uncalled for and therefore unacceptable. It is important to note that, both NUPENG and PENGASAN saw valid reasons with the Federal Government and backed out of the strike action.

It is also significant to observe that, the government has not increased the pump price of petrol to N145 per litre; instead what the government has done is to say, petrol cannot sell beyond N145 per litre. And, as we have seen, some filling stations have started selling for between N100 and N143 per litre. All the endless, long queues have disappeared, petrol is no longer scarce and a great measure of normalcy has been restored to the process.

The question that should be asked at this juncture is, what have these kinds of strikes achieved for the country over the years? Nothing tangible in my own estimation. The labour leaders call people out on demonstration and protest, where they have open confrontation with the law enforcement agents. Many innocent people have been sent to their early graves in the process, others have been maimed and hospitalized for years, while some of the labour leaders who have perfected the unholy art of settlement and have more often than not been compromised, smile to the banks with their ill-gotten largesse and “blood money”, only for them to call off the strike after a few days without anything concrete achieved therefrom.

The germane thing to understand is that the previous government failed to save significantly for the country, for trying times like this; rather they dissipated the national reserve and revenue earnings on conspicuous consumption, mundane pleasures as well as hedonistic and epicurean ways of life. And, what did the labour unions do? They pretended nothing horrible or offensive happened.

Taking into consideration what the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is planning to achieve, it is no less than to: (1)Stop the illicit payment of subsidy to exploitative and parasitic middlemen; save money for the country and shore up the feeble national economy from imminent collapse; (2) Initiate the gradual process of halting the unsustainable and counter-productive importation of refined oil, even from the neighbouring West African sub-region; (3)Repair the old refineries in the country, rendered comatose as a result of sabotage, so that they can commence full operations at optimal capacity and (4)Build new refineries in the country that would be eventually commercialized for effective operations and efficient productivity, among other reasons.

If these ideas are properly implemented, there is no reason local production would not start in earnest and so oil importation for local consumption would stop and prices would automatically drop significantly. The revenue realized from the price variation, adjustment and modification would therefore be ploughed back into other critical areas of the national economy and the process of diversification of the mono-economic, dependent, quasi-capitalist system would give way to a more vibrant, robust, productive and dynamic economy.

Therefore, what the labour leaders should do is to enter into reasonable/pragmatic dialogue and constructive engagement with government that will have immediate and long term appreciable impact on the overall wellbeing of the national economy, while jettisoning all forms of hard-line positions. After all, when the national treasury was being pillaged, the labour movement kept mute. When the collective patrimony and commonwealth was balkanized amongst plutocrats, they maintained an undignified silence. Even over the jumbo pay package of national legislators, they had nothing to say.

Not only have the labour unionists lost touch with the ordinary people and the grassroots, but the labour movement is seriously polarized, weak, disorganized, disoriented and apparently lacks functional ideas and creative initiatives to either genuinely inspire hope and galvanize the country. The labour movement should therefore, wake up from its deep slumber, face stark realities and stop living in a fool’s paradise by building castles in the air.