14 May 2012, Sweetcude, LAGOS – Nigeria’s organised labour has raised the alarm over moves by the government to raise the price of fuel, a development it said would likely create political crisis.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), in a statement signed by its Acting General secretary, Comrade Owei Lakemfa, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to call members of his cabinet who are pushing for the fresh price hike to order.
Alleging plot on the part of the affected members of the cabinet to divide the NLC, the he statement said: “These hawks in government who see the NLC as being too powerful and capable of checkmating undemocratic and unpatriotic moves by the political class, have come to the conclusion that the best way out is to engineer internal ‘disagreements’ in the NLC, and hiding under this guise, to register a new labour centre which they hope will support anti-people policies and cause distractions in the labour movement. These government agents have even fixed July, 2012 as the registration date of their proposed new labour centre.”
The NLC called on the President to call his men to order to avoid labour/political upheaval, noting that neither the government or their agents would be able to withstand the expected crises.
The NLC, has also called on trade unions who have enlisted for “this anti-people project”, as well as those that are being enticed to join the illegal project, to urgently retrace their steps as the NLC would not allow the ranks of the working people to be split.
