The Federal Government and the organised labour went into a brawl over the recently reviewed price of Premium Motor Spirit or petrol. By the time the week-long strike and protests that crippled the country were stopped, there had been a bargain between the two sides. Group Politics Editor, TAIWO ADISA, writes on what may be considered as gains that each of the divides has in the kitty.

The Federal Government, the organised Labour, including the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the civil society all went to war starting from January 3. It was the battle over the planned deregulation of the petroleum sector.
Government, in search of appropriate pricing for petrol, had on January 1, announced a new price regime of between N138 to N141 per litre of petrol. It was a sudden move by the administration, which had, however, been mouthing the need to fully deregulate the downstream sector of petroleum industry.

But that led the civil society to spontaneously take up arms in many cities across the country. The message to the government was a reversal of the pump price or risk hell. Labour announced the nationwide strike, which dovetailed into the largely spontaneous protests from January 9. The street protests that were suspended for the weekend of January 14 and 15 were to resume on January 16, but labour halted that bid when it announced a stay at home order. When the strike was eventually suspended, government had reverted to N97 per litre for petrol and announced some palliatives, including the launching of mass transit programme and 25 per cent reduction in salaries of political office holders. Government also instituted a probe into activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) as part of the measures aimed at sanitising the fuel supply chain.
Though Labour’s initial demand has been a reversal in price of petrol to N65 per litre, the workers were unable to get the government to revert to that price before it suspended the strike. But organised labour was able to get some concessions for Nigerians, while also sensitising Nigerians to the workings of the petroleum sector. An ongoing probe into the sector by the National Assembly is also one of the gains recorded by the organised labour. But such achievements were considered too little by a section of the civil society as exemplified in the views of radical Amazon, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, and a former member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dino Melaye. While Odumakin believes that the monumental corruption in the oil sector sensitised Nigerians to pour onto the streets from January 3, Melaye believes that government has not done enough in probing the sector.

With such views from leaders of the civil society, it was apparent a division about modus operandi had emerged between the labour and its allies, even though everyone had agreed to the need to fight the new pump price. Right now, labour is standing firm on the need to negotiate with the government on the way forward, while a section of the civil society is insisting on endless protests that would probably force the government to have a rethink.

No one can deny the logic in labour’s decision to end street protests from January 16. Acting National Secretary of the NLC, Comrade Owei Lakemfa, insisted that the government was already worried the protests were being hijacked by political interests. There was the need to separate clear agitations by Nigerians from politically-motivated uprisings targeted at hitting the government below the belt.

While many Nigerians were, however, alarmed at the rise in pump price of petrol from January 1, the government also believes its logic in seeking total deregulation of the industry was sound. For instance, it was going to be difficult to continue to pay N1.3 trillion for fuel subsidy on an annual basis from 2011. It also believes that the low pump price in Nigeria is stalling investment in the refineries and, therefore, compounding the unemployment situation. So, government’s intention was largely economic, which, in effect, would enhance the good life of all, if well implemented. But while the general claims of the opposition against the implementation of the new pump price regime could be true of the previous governments, especially on the failure of past governments to visibly invest gains of subsidy removal, businessmen and others who have taken time to look deep into the proposal by the Jonathan’s administration this time believe the government should be given a benefit of the doubt.

For instance, the Federal Government had spelt out the possible gains that would accrue to the three tiers of government from the subsidy funds, while also announcing the projects it hoped to commit its own share of N478 billion to. Besides, it has also started the implementation of the advertised palliatives in respect of the current exercise by launching the 1,100 mass transit buses. So, the question the labour is forced to ask itself is will things be done better this time? And that is the usual question on the minds of all Nigerian patriots, because at the end of all arguments, good governance and effective service delivery stand to be the direct gains for the country and citizens.

So, while the labour secured its string of victories, which some of its allies in the civil society regard as tokenism, the government can also revel in its own victory. The government did not completely lose the argument by being forced to revert to N65 per litre. It also secured victory by returning labour to the dialogue table where labour leaders and the Justice Alpha Belgore-led committee will iron out the grey areas in the deregulation issue. There is also a renewed attention for the passage of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). Above all, the government was able to win the battle of getting the attention of Nigerians directed at ongoing probe in the petroleum sector. It could be a huge plus especially as it could greatly help the government in tackling the much-talked-about widespread corruption in the sector with the vigilance of every Nigerian. Once government’s sincerity is taken for granted, its efforts would be helped when all Nigerians are concerned about ending the regime of corruption in the oil sector as was the general talk during the one week strike.

Though the government’s announcement of N97 per litre of petrol still leaves it with a burden of N44 on each litre of petrol consumed by Nigerians, the avenue is there already for the government to show its readiness to deliver on projects when it starts applying the N32 it is to save on each litre of petrol henceforth.

The question can then be asked, what happens to the Subsidy Re-Investment (SURE) Programme now that full deregulation of the petroleum sector is suspended. The answer to that should not be farfetched. The government can either distribute the N32 savings in accordance with dictates of revenue allocation or take the sum as its own share of the funds if that is agreed to by the federating units. If the first option is taken, the administration can begin the implementation of the SURE document in earnest, but if the second option subsists, the government can show signs by implementing the segments of the programme available funds can take.

For a popularly elected president like Goodluck Jonathan, the uproar that greeted the subsidy removal might have come as a surprise. He was sure the announcement would bring what he called temporary pains, but he was also certain that the pains would turn to gains in record time. The general outcry out there, however, remains, ‘we no longer have trust in government’. It may not be the making of Jonathan, but since government is usually a continuum, he bears the cumulative anger against successive disappointments and let downs. Since the General Ibrahim Babangida era when petrol price was changed six times, successive governments had effected changes in pump prices. General Babangida even had the good fortune of presiding over a $12.4 billion Gulf oil windfall with none of the earnings directed to areas that could concretely affect the lives of the people. Chief Ernest Shonekan, General Sani Abacha, General Abdusalami Abubakar and former President Olusegun Obasanjo all effected changes in petroleum prices between 1993 and 2007with little or tokens to show the people as practical achievements. So, the people’s anger in January 2012 could well be described as having been bottled over the years.

It is, however, undeniable that within the milieu, certain politically-minded persons positioned themselves to make profits which could serve as future guarantees. But the government could make a huge capital out of the widespread skepticism among its critics by pulling through the ongoing probe of the petroleum sector, and ensuring that henceforth, government’s resources are largely devoid of the usual waste and by ensuring that some snippets of its SURE programme see the light of day within the shortest possible time. By that, skeptics or whoever is hiding under the guise of the civil society to perpetrate political agenda could be silenced.

Just as it was in the post-civil-war days, when the slogan ‘No Victor No Vanquished’ reigned, the country is back to the same situation as far as the government and the labour are concerned, but the country at large has got a huge benefit to make, good governance and ultimately, service delivery in public the sector. Looking at the Jonathan persona, he comes across as someone who wants to leave such resounding legacies.