NLC responds to APC, says support for Obi amplifies stand on fuel subsidy

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says its support for the presidential candidate of the Labour Party Peter Obi amplifies its stance of the removal of fuel subsidy.

The NLC was responding to a statement by the spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo.

Keyamo had asked the labour body if it would still support Obi despite his resolve to remove fuel subsidy which the NLC is against.

NLC President, Ayuba Wabba in a statement on Saturday said the NLC had already stated its stand that importation of fuel must be stopped in the place of 100 per cent supply from local refineries.

“A major demand in the Nigerian Workers Charter of Demands is that our local public refineries must work. We have also demanded that we must stop 100% importation of refined petroleum products. The NLC and indeed the labour movement in Nigeria has over many decades been vehemently consistent that the only way to address the issue of the so-called petrol subsidies is to get our refineries to work. The logic is very simple: it is atrocious to buy from abroad at very expensive prices a product that a country like ours can easily produce at home.
“At the heart of our demand on the management of Nigeria’s mineral resources especially our downstream petroleum sub-sector is the issue of Production Economy. We believe that the rescue of Nigeria from the current ruinous path of Consumption Economy to Production Economy is the only way to resolve Nigeria’s economic nightmares of massive depletion of scarce foreign exchange reserve; continuous devaluation of the Naira; significant jobs hemorrhage and destruction, deepening of poverty and downturn in the living standards of our people.
“In a determined effort to popularise the positions in the Nigerian Workers Charter of Demands, the NLC and TUC at the behest of the Labour Party on September 12 – 13, 2022 hosted a national retreat of the leadership cadres in our movement. At the retreat, the Labour Party and organized labour in Nigeria adopted and mainstreamed the Workers Charter of Demands into the Manifesto of the Labour Party. This is in line with our persuasion that issue-based campaign anchored on the manifesto of political parties should drive Nigeria’s political process.
“If any political party goes around saying that they plan to sell our refineries, remove subsidies, and further oppress long-suffering Nigerians, they should be ready to defend such stance to Nigerians at the campaigns. The NLC, organized labour, and Labour Party position has not changed. It only got amplified,” Wabbba said.