A former member of the Bola Tinubu, Kashim Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga has told Nigerians, especially workers, to ignore the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Joe Ajaero’s directive asking them to go on strike next Wednesday over the removal of petrol subsidy.
Onanuga alleged that Ajaero is playing politics and acting the script of the opposition Labour Party, LP, insisting he is out to destabilise President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In a post via his verified Twitter handle on Friday, Onanuga claimed that the NLC president is privy to the distressing financial figures which, according to him, justified why subsidy should have been scrapped a long time ago.
Onanuga wondered whose interest Ajaero is championing, noting he (Ajaero) did not oppose the position of the LP and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who he claimed campaigned with the promise to scrap subsidy from day one, if elected.
Giving reasons why fuel subsidy is no longer sustainable, Onanuga claimed the Federal Government is virtually broke, pointing to the N77 trillion national debt and about N2.4 trillion owed to the NNPC Limited for past subsidies.
He called on the Nigerian people and workers to “support the government as it works out new wages and rolls out other interventions, as promised by the President, to mitigate the effects of new fuel price.”
The statement read:
“The Politically tainted NLC, TUC
“NLC President Joe Ajaero has asked workers to go on strike next Wednesday over the removal of petrol subsidy, despite being privy to the distressing financial figures, which justified why subsidy ought to have been scrapped a long time ago. My advice to the perceptive workers and the Nigerian populace is simply to ignore Ajaero and his ilk. He is playing politics and is actually acting the script of the opposition Labour Party, out to destabilise the young Tinubu administration.
“Besides, one wonders whose interest Ajaero is championing, when he did not oppose the position of his Labour Party and presidential candidate, who campaigned with the promise to scrap subsidy from Day One, if elected.
“NLC and TUC leaders knew since last year November that subsidy will be scrapped from July 1 as no provision has been made in the budget for it, beyond this date.
“The Federal Government which already commits 96 percent of its revenue in servicing debt is not in any position to continue selling subsidised fuel, most of which is smuggled across our borders for criminal and obscenely unpatriotic profit.
Subsidy of fuel is no longer unsustainable as the FG is virtually broke. Apart from its N77 trillion debt, it also owes the NNPC Limited about N2.4trillion for past subsidies.
“The Nigerian people and workers should support the government as it works out new wages and rolls out other interventions, as promised by President Tinubu, to mitigate the effects of the new fuel price.
“Let’s not make ourselves pawns in the hands of the politically biased and tainted NLC and TUC. Ajaero is no more a labour leader. He is a politician and leader of the Labour Party. He is no more representing all the Nigerian workers.”
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