Buhari, Osinbajo absent at May Day rally

For the second time in two years, President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo were absent at the 2017 May Day rally at the Eagle Square, Abuja, thereby provoking wild protests by workers and bringing the rally to an abrupt end.

 

Indeed, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki; Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives among other top government officials who were in attendance had to be whisked away from the State Box of the Eagle Square, by their security details, to avoid being mobbed by angry workers who complained about the biting economic situation in the country.

While President Buhari is widely speculated to be ill, and in the last one week, had been attending to state matters from his official residence in Aso Rock, no reason was given as to why Osinbajo did not stand in for the president.

 

Other dignitaries who attended the aborted rally include: Professor Itse Sagay, chairman, Presidential Committee on Anti-Corruption; former Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole and Winifred Oyo-Ita, Head of Service of the Federation.

In Lagos, distraught workers who gathered at the National Stadium, Surulere and the Agege Stadium, condemned what they termed unending suffering of Nigerians, and called for the immediate reflating of the comatose economy.

 

The Eagle Square rally protest which started at about 12:18pm and lasted for over one hour, led to the abrupt departure of unions affiliated to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), as Nigeria Police anti-riot vans drove into the venue to douse the tension and ensure it did not snowball into a bloody clash.

A handful of the workers from public and private sectors who earlier protested against the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo booed and refused to listen to Abiola Bawa, acting Permanent Secretary of Minister of Labour and Employment, who was designated to read the minister’s speech.

 

Despite his resolve to intervene, the non-temperate crowd who had won the hearts of other workers, failed to adhere to the solidarity plea of Chris Ngige, minister of Labour and Employment, who represented President Buhari.

 

The aggrieved workers who chanted various protest songs including: “we are suffering’; ‘shame on you, shame on you’; ‘minimum wage, minimum wage’; eventually hijacked the podium where the moderators and other labour leaders were addressing over 10,000 delegates.

 

One of the union leaders, who spoke at the sideline of the protest, noted that “this is not a good omen for us as labour leaders. It only signalled the beginning of the beginning. What just happened showed that we labour leaders should be very careful, because the message they are passing to us is that one day they will lynch us.”

 

Speaking before the dispatch of thousands of workers who also frowned at the disaffection displayed at the rally, Bobboi Kaigama, TUC President noted that the goal and strategy of the ongoing fight against corruption has not been understood whether it is in the interest of the country or not.

 

“Wherever you look, it has been ending stories of corruption in public offices. It does not even make any sense listing those culpable any more since some of them are gradually winning their cases in court. It is because of corruption that we do not have functional refineries even as a major player in the oil and gas industry. After spending $16 billion and more, the power sector has remained comatose. The scourge has undermined merit and enthroned mediocrity, cronyism and nepotism. The judiciary has not helped issues,” Kaigama said.

 

On the power sector, the TUC leader urged the new owners of the privatised facilities to make strategic investment into the facilities to ensure constant suppose of gas to these plants, enforce post-privatisation agreement rather than pampering the buyers. He also tasked government to activate its 40 percent shareholding in DISCOs to checkmate their excesses.

 

While expressing concern over the endemic corruption in the oil and gas sector, Kaigama alleged that the “cabal in the oil and gas industry is so strong that most times they stifle the efforts of every government in power. They claim to import petroleum products, raise vouchers and collect billions for doing nothing; and when we complain they create artificial scarcity, fix prices and manipulate the lawmakers against the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).”

 

He however warned the House of Representatives to jettison the ongoing amendment of the NLNG Act, which he argued can directly affect some $25 billion worth of foreign investments as well as about 18,000 Nigerian jobs linked with NLNG Train 7 and 8 expansion programmes, as well as recent gains made in the area of gas flaring reduced from 65 percent to less than 20 percent and loss of up to $124 million annually payable as taxes and dividends to Federal Government.

 

While reacting to the ugly incident, Ayuba Wabba, NLC President noted that the protest was in demonstration of workers’ response to President Buhari’s consistent absence at the workers’ rally.

 

“Workers are insisting that either the President or Vice President should be here in person. It is an expression of the ways workers are feeling. The situation is biting very hard, some of them could not make it here today, some of them can no longer afford one-square meal a day, so it’s the demonstration of the situation on ground. Nigerian workers are pressed to the wall,” Wabba argued.

 

When Wabba eventually read his speech to the scanty delegates who stayed back, he urged Buhari’s administration to address issues relating to Human Development Index (HDI) which put Nigeria life expectancy rate at 54.5 years according to the recent report released by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

 

He also tasked Buhari on immediate implementation of the Economic Recovery Growth Plan 2017-2020; address the challenges of de-industrialisation bedevilling the country due to inadequate power supply, high cost of credit, inadequate foreign exchange supply and depreciation of Naira value.

 

“This trend needs to be reversed with focus on key areas of the economy such as automobile, textile, petrochemical, Argo-Allied, refineries, fertiliser and pharmaceutical industries. Other areas with great potential for growth and development include building materials, milling, paper and paper products, solid minerals, iron and steel and boar building, etc.”

 

Wabba also urged the Federal Government to fast-track the approval of the new national minimum wage for which the NLC and TUC proposed N56,000 since 2016 before the hike in the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS) from N86 per litre to N145 per litre.

 

But in an interview after the disruption of the rally, Chris Ngige, who could not read the President’s speech, blamed the protest on factionalisation the labour federation.

“What is playing out here is that, I understand from the security report that there are some infiltrations by people who do not belong to the unions here,” adding that necessary steps will be taken to address the issue appropriately.

 

He however assured Nigerian workers that the present administration will address issues relating to the new national minimum wage, backlog of promotion arrears and allowances of all staff as provided in the 2016 budget.

 

Ngige who explained that the budgetary provisions will be captured in the 2017 budget proposal before the National Assembly, also allayed fear of retrenchment of workers by the Federal Government, despite the shrink in the revenue generation.

 

Some of the placards displayed by the affiliates read: ‘Save our people from meningitis,’ ‘Nigerians demand for national carrier, say no concession of our airports, demand for completion of airports remodelling,’ ‘Corruption + Smuggling= national insecurity,’ ‘Implement cotton, textile and garment policy now,’ ‘Labour leaders unite now, workers need loud voice,’ ‘Yes to good governance, no to corruption,’ ‘Democracy without jobs = Bad governance,’ ‘Stop smuggling, kill corruption,’ ‘President Buhari, start diversification with revival of closed (textile) industries,’ ‘The poor still saying, banish poverty,’ ‘New minimum wage now,’ and many others.

 

JOSHUA BASSEY & KEHINDE AKINTOLA, ABUJA