Labour yesterday vowed to protest the 2012 budget proposal presented on Tuesday to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said its leadership will meet on Tuesday to plan its protest over the 2012 Appropriation.
Secretary General of Trade Union Congress (TUC) Chief John Kolawole said the senior workers would tackle the Federal Government on its silence about fuel subsidy in the budget proposal.
Kolawole said: “If government is determined to go ahead with the fuel subsidy withdrawal, labour is also determined to oppose government on the issue. The opposition can be in any form. What we want is for government to create capacity to meet demand, and it has not done that because it prefers fuel importation to having functional refineries. That, to us, is unacceptable.”
In a statement entitled: “The 2012 Budget: A Disaster Waiting to Happen”, on behalf of the NLC, Acting General Secretary of NLC Comrade Owei Lakemfa called on called on the National Assembly to support the electorate to reject the budget.
The NLC said: “We call on all Nigerian workers and people to begin preparations for a general strike and mass protests. The people must be prepared in the next few weeks when the Jonathan administration begins to implement his anti-Nigerian policy. Nigerians should prepare to occupy the streets and public institutions to prevent them from being taken over by anti-patriotic forces.
“The NLC leadership will be meeting on Tuesday December 20, 2011 to firm up strategies and give directive on the commencement of this protest and the resolve of workers and the Nigerian people to reclaim their country back.”
Lakemfa urged the Federal Government to have a rethink by reviewing his budget proposal, or be ready to take on the Nigerian people.
The congress described the removal of subsidy from the budget as a declaration of war on Nigerians.
It said: “In particular, the exclusion of fuel subsidy in the budget is not only tragic, but a declaration of war on the Nigerian people. Thus, the Nigerian people will have no choice but to confront this challenge.”
It added that “no one should underestimate the general mass poverty, unemployment and discontent that have increased bottled-up anger in our polity.” The removal of fuel subsidy will provide the spark for mass protests such that even the increased security vote cannot buy enough arms to contain,” the NLC said.
The congress said since the government has elected to punish the people through a budget that is poverty – inducing and will cause a lot of hardship, the Nigerians will have no alternative but to resist.
On the N921.9billion proposal for security, the NLC said despite the country’s security challenges, it is curious that the Jonathan administration has allocated a massive lion share of the budget to security.
According to the NLC, the major cause of the increasing wave of insecurity in Nigeria is lack of education and mass unemployment, which are direct consequences of the general collapse of public infrastructure, such as public electricity, roads, education, health etc.
The Acting General Secretary noted that security challenges are further compounded by lack of political will and abysmal ineptitude of security agencies.
The NLC said “a critical perusal of the budget proposal shows clearly that the government has no intention to lead the country out of its socio- economic crisis.
NLC said: “The budget, which is tagged: Budget of Fiscal Consolidation, Inclusive Growth and Job Creation, is actually an anti-peoples budget designed purely in the service of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and their local lackeys who dictate to the Nigerian government. It is a disaster waiting to happen.”
According to the congress, “this further attempt to impoverish workers and the Nigerian poor, is coming on the heels of increased tariff on electricity, the move to massively sack workers in the name of merging parastatals, the attempt to collect more taxes through the return of toll gates, the refusal to adequately fund education and refusal to pay minimum wage, which is an impeachable offence.”
Students have also taken a stance against the planned removal of fuel subsidy.
They made their position known to President Goodluck Jonathan at a meeting with students leaders on Tuesday in Abuja.
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Workers reject budget