Strike Ends As Government Capitulates

By Remi Oyo, IPS, 13 June 2000

LAGOS, June 13 (IPS)—The five-day nationwide strike, called by the 29 union strong Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), ended Tuesday after the government agreed to increase the price of petroleum products by 10 percent and not by the originally stipulated 50 percent.

Policy analysts and human rights activists have declared the strike a resounding success and called it 'the triumph of democracy'.

The end of the crisis is not a victory for labour and its leader, Adams Oshiomhole, it is not victory for President Olusegun Obasanjo but a victory for democracy, Tony Momoh, former Minister of Information told IPS.

According to the new prices petrol will now cost 22 US cents a litre, diesel 27 US cents a litre and the cost of kerosene, used for domestic cooking, remains unchanged at 17 cents a litre.

The strike was the most successful by the NLC, an organisation that remained quiet during the five-year military rule of the late dictator, General Sani Abacha until it was resurrected by the short-lived government of General Abdulsalami Abubaka (June 1998- May 1999) which handed over to the democratically-elected government of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The capitulation of Obasanjo, a former General and his earlier apology to labour leaders for the lack of consultation before the hike has prompted comments that the President, elected last year, is trying to get political mileage.

However, Momoh who served during the military government of former President Ibrahim Babangida (1985-1993) said on the contrary, Obasanjo has restored his image which was nearly destroyed in the past few days.

Obasanjo went back to the point of consultation for the simple reason that democracy is all about consultation and compromises.

Believe me, he was a bad product to package in the past few days until his apology and willingness to yield to labour demands, Momoh said.

He said Nigerians, long used to the arbitrariness of military rule, including Obasanjo have opened their eyes to the need to accept due process.

During military rule, the executive was the legislature, the judiciary and even the court of appeal, the head of Ssate was the maximum ruler, Momoh, a lawyer and former newspaper editor said.

Once Obasanjo was the maximum ruler and his attempt to once again act as one, by reviewing prices upwards without consultation, has taught him the need to accept his new role as minimum ruler, he also said.

Momoh agreed with politicians like Nduka Irabor, member of the 360-seat House of Representatives, that Obasanjo and his one-year- old government have learnt valuable lessons from the crisis, the worst the nation has faced since democracy returned on May 29 last year.

Irabor told IPS that out of these tense moments, something has been learnt. The lesson is that dialogue rather than extremism pays.

The strike action has shown that if we are inclined to being insensitive, people will react. Sensitivity and the need for dialogue are important before decisions are made, Irabor, member of the President's ruling Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) said.

The PDP leadership, known for its astute backing of the President openly expressed its displeasure with the 63-year-old leader, a development that might weaken his position especially in dealing with the ever critical 469 two-chamber National Assembly.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Ibeshi, speaking at a press conference in Abuja, the Federal capital at the weekend expressed shock at the increases pointing out the necessity for the broad-based consultation of the political leadership and all stake-holders in the economy for such an initiative to succeed and endure.

Ibeshi's comments were further reinforced by those of Okwesileze Nwodo, the PDP National Secretary who confirmed Obasanjo's stance and the cold war between the President and the National Assembly.

In an exclusive interview published in the privately-owned 'Comet' newspaper this week, Nwodo said of Obasanjo: Certain times, issues that ought to be handled democratically by somebody who has been in the political system are often not handled that way. So he has to be called back to the democratic way.

Nwodo did not say the resolution of the fuel crisis was one such issue. Infact, he said, the fuel price was not discussed at the caucus.

The PDP Secretary, a former elected Governor of the eastern state of Anambra until the military coup of Abacha in 1993, said of the cold war between Obasanjo and the National Assembly; His perception is that people in the National Assembly are working for themselves, for the well-being of their purse, rather than for the people.

This is an allegation denied often times in the past by the leadership of the Assembly, Senate President Chuba Okadigbo.

Okadigbo and Ghali Na'aba, Speaker of the House of Representatives have insisted that Obasanjo has devoted the executive machinery to ensure their impeachment and it will therefore not be a surprise to most Nigerians if the two leaders capitalise on Obasanjo's recent problems with Labour when the National Assembly resumes from recess later this month.

Obasanjo has repeatedly denied the allegation and did so again Monday when he met John Prescott, the Deputy British Prime Minister,at the beginning of his three-day visit.

Obasanjo told the Prescott that his relationship with the National Assembly was not as bad as was being painted by the media.

Rather, Obasanjo said, the disagreements between the executive and the legislative arms of government was normal under a democratic system.

Prescott's visit at the head of a delegation of British officials and businessmen coincides with that of Lawrence Summers, the U.S. Treasury Secretary.

Summers and diplomats here refused to comment on the just ended crisis. Ann Macro, press attache with the British High Commission told IPS: The fuel issue is the business of the Nigerian government.

Prescott's assurance of British assistance to Nigeria's fledging democracy was underscored by a similar statement from the American Treasury Secretary who canvassed for Abuja's adoption of stringent economic policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in exchange for U.S. support for its debt forgiveness campaign.

Both financial institutions have been blamed by Labour leaders and politicians here for being behind the recent fuel price hike.

Femi Falana, Secretary-General of the African Bar Associations said at a book launch here Monday that he had information that the Nigerian Government needed tough economic actions such as fuel price hike to back its application for a World Bank loan.

Now they will ask us to come and reschedule, which actually means adding interest rate upon interest rate. What are we using this money for? Why can't we cut our cloth according to our size. Why are we adding debt upon debt? said the lawyer and chair of the NGO, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Nigeria, CDHR.

Fellow human rights activist, Clement Nwankwo, said in an interview with IPS Tuesday that the electorate would continue to hold the government accountable for its actions.

Frankly, I believe that President Obasanjo has lot of the moral authority to govern Nigerians through his unilateral decision to raise fuel prices, Nwankwo, Executive Director of the Constitutional Rights Project, said.

I just hope that Obasanjo has learnt from this experience, he said.

CDHR Director, Sina Loremikan, believes that strike has shown that democracy is good for the people. Compared to military rule when we were all hounded for standing up for our rights, the people's rights and democracy has triumphed he said.

Since last week, we have not recorded the sort of casualties that a typical of say the Abacha days, newspapers have not been shut down, casualties and arrests have been limited, that is the beauty of democracy, Loremikan added.