- Claims FG breached agreement on Port Harcourt refinery
From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared that it would no longer accept invitations to attend late-night meetings with the Federal Government, especially on the eve of its planned industrial actions.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero at a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, said such gatherings were typically a ploy to mislead the Congress and prevent it from carrying out its scheduled protests or strikes.
He also explained that such late-night engagements with Federal Government give Nigerians the wrong impression of the Congress as they are perceived to be discussing other things other than the main issue on ground.
The Labour leader maintained that the leadership of NLC would only attend meetings with the government officials when actions have not been declared.
Federal Government’s attempts to put an end to the Tuesday nationwide protests had failed because there was no resolution to the meeting with the organised labour leadership that took place behind closed doors on Sunday.
Disclosing the outcome of the NLC’s Sunday meeting, Ajaero said it was an “obsolete strategy” adopted by the Federal Government to delay, demobilise and demoralise aggrieved protesters nationwide.
“Henceforth, the NLC will no longer be comfortable attending meetings on the eve of any action. Never again! It was a waste of time, waste of energy and nothing comes from such meetings.
“It was to delay us, to demobilise us, and to make people have the impression that we went there to discuss other issues apart from the issues on ground. This is our new resolve.
“You (FG) can no longer call us for a meeting when we have action tomorrow or next tomorrow, and you delay us till 11am, 12am in the night, so that we won’t come out to mobilise for action. Such a strategy is obsolete. I think they should adopt new strategies.”
He also alleged that government officials had at different occasions tried divide-and-rule tactics to subvert NLC including sending some boys out to do a counter-protest on Tuesday.
“Each time they invite us for meetings, we will attend and listen to them because if we don’t attend, they will blackmail us if we don’t attend. You are aware that they held a meeting with us till late on Sunday. While that meeting was on, they wrote letters to all the unions in order to undermine us.
“You’re meeting with the leadership of the NLC, and you’re still inviting every union in the country to undermine us. Even at that meeting, where I was talking, they wanted two of my deputies to be talking, so that we don’t have leaders, but we survived all that.
“There is nothing on earth they have not done to subvert the NLC. Nothing! And we’re still waxing stronger. So, if they invite us for a meeting, we will still go and listen because we have our views, we have our positions, and we will still gently present our positions. We won’t say we’re not going except when we realise that…”
The NLC president said the congress had evidence from Tuesday’s protest of the importation of agents who were mobilised to the protest routes and grounds to cause violence against the peaceful protest.
“God is, however, always a step ahead of the enemies of the workers and the Nigerian people. That was also one of the reasons we had to restructure on the second day of the nationwide protest.
“You may have noticed that almost all the routes to our office have been militarised this morning. It took a lot of time to access our office. These are not things you expect from a democratic society.
“We want to reiterate that if the government fails to comply within the specified time frame, the NEC will convene again to decide on the next line of action.
“The NLC remains steadfast in its commitment to defending and promoting the interests of Nigerian workers and the downtrodden masses, who will not succumb to intimidation.”
He also claimed the government was fond of breaching agreements and laws of the land, and that one of the examples was non-functioning of Port Harcourt refinery which it was announced that it would begin operation last year December.
“I was there when President Tinubu asked the Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Lokpobiri, about when the refinery would work. As we’re talking, no drop of fuel, PMS has dropped from that refinery! They should stop lying to people,” Ajaero said.