NLC threatens to picket filling stations hoarding petrol

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to picket filling stations that hoard fuel as scarcity bites harder.

NLC issued the threat, yesterday, in Abuja at the end of its virtual National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.

At a press briefing in Abuja, NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said the meeting deliberated on three major issues bordering on the alleged plan to move the national minimum wage from exclusive legislative list to concurrent list; establishing state judiciary councils through constitution amendment and tackling prevailing hoarding of petrol by marketers in major cities of the country.

The NEC urged relevant regulatory agencies of government to arrest the growing queues, warning that the situation could spread to other cities soon if urgent steps are not taken.
“The NEC warned that should the current artificial scarcity persist, the various leadership structures of the NLC would picket petrol stations found to be inflicting pains on Nigerians,” Wabba said.

He hinted of NLC’s readiness to protest, as from March 10, 2021, the attempt at moving the national minimum wage law from the exclusive list to the concurrent legislative list.

According to Labour, the protest is to make a strong statement that Nigerian workers would not lie low and watch hard-won rights that are of global standards bastardised by the political class.

“The NEC resolved that the national protest would be concurrently held in all the 36 states of the federation and to the different State Houses of Assembly. Should the need arise, NEC has empowered the National Administrative Council (NAC) of the NLC to declare and enforce a national strike, especially if the legislators continue on the ruinous path of moving the national minimum wage from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list,” Wabba stated.

NLC described as selfish the effort to decentralise the determination and application of minimum wage, noting that the remuneration of all political office holders, from councillors to governors, are centrally and uniformly determined by Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

According to Wabba, the meeting also condemned and rejected the ploy to decentralise Nigeria’s judiciary through the establishment of state judicial councils. He described the move as unpatriotic, self-serving and an attempt to throw Nigeria into judicial and social chaos.