The scheduled meeting between the organized labor and the federal government of Nigeria ended in a deadlock following 3hours of closed door discussions on Saturday January 14, 2012 in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The meeting ended unceremoniously few minutes to 12midnight and saw the slim window of opportunity to avert the possible breakdown of law and order in Nigeria close shut.
The entire cabinet members of the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebelemi Jonathan and seven other select State governors were present for the meeting – which also saw eighteen [18] members of organized labor in attendance. President Jonathan was not in attendance.
According to firsthand information gathered by 247ureports.com, the meeting ended abruptly due to the new tactics adopted by the representative of the federal government of Nigeria [FGN] towards organized labor during the said negotiation. The representative of the FGN during the talks told the representatives of organized labor that the FGN has the luxury of holding them on treasonable offenses if they decide to hold their grounds to the N65 per liter demand or nothing. The labor leaders were also threatened that it is possible for the FGN to hold them responsible for the killings and damage to properties that occurred during the 5-day protest across the country.
The tone and demeanor of the FGN representatives were said to have taken a new face. The negotiations were said to be one-directional – with the FGN dictating to the representatives of labor. But 247ureports.com gathered that the labor representative remained calm and collected and were able to discard the threat – to lay their claims on the table – adding that the workers on the oil rigs are in-line to down their tools pending the outcome of the talks.
The talks immediately took on another turn. The data and figures pointing to the need to remove the oil subsidy began to make its way onto to the tables – as the Oil Minister managed to make the point that it was necessary to stick with the N140 per liter price marker. She was brute and dictatorial in her presentation. She implied ignorance on the part of the labor representatives – while accusing them of instigating unrest. The same notion was espoused by the finance minister and the other representatives.
The mood of the meeting became charged and turned into a slight shouting match between the two parties. The secretary to the federal government cleared the air – and told the labor representatives that no further compromise can be reached beyond what was reached on Thursday – that the President will have to be briefed before further compromise/shifting can be made.
To this, the labor representatives called it quits. But the secretary to the federal government, Anyim sought confirmation that organized labor would hold-off on shutting the oil rigs till the President is briefed. Organized labor gave him till Sunday.
Stay tuned
Pls labour try to c some reasons wit d govt. I think one of ur demand was to include human activists eg falana in the commitee for reinvesting the subsidy money
This is nonsense! D orgnsd labor shud flatly refused 2 b browbeaten, intimidated & harrassed into submission by threats of charges of treason! Do d FG guys know d meaning of such legal jargon? It seems they dont! Up Labor, down FG n ur heartiless team of voodoo econömists paradin themselves as experts!
May Almighty Allah be with u labour union may He save u pple 4rom evil hands, and my God punish Oil Minister 4 her arrogance and pityless.
Well done Omar &others. No retreat No surrender! With or without compromisable Oshiomole you can stand gidigba for the poor masses.
@Adome, I wipe for the nation when I c people like you. You are been enslaved and yet you are trying to tell your rescurer to c reasons not to rescue you. Its unfortunate how those cynical and ill protrayed reasons, talks and adverts have brainwashed you & your likes!
Dont you knw the effect of the increment on FGN officials & presidency has been catter for in that ridiculus & inflated budget? Who caters for that of U & I. What % of your income stil remains for u? If U are rich enough 2 absorb the effect what about those that are not.
Pls try 2 b your brothers keeper and dönt join your enemy (@ this epoch FGN are) to kill your brothers!
pls f.g the masses are suffering remember ur promise during ur campaign that u will do this and that is this how u want to pay the masses. if okonjo and madueke cannot work wit u, u better sack or let them resign
the ministers can be lords today but tomorrow they will join us when their services expires as ministers , although we never voted them because they where appointed , we will not hold them responsible but the president , therefore labour leaders dont mind them on their treat but they should be aware that they are causing more harm than good by the way they are going , they have to know that they love this country my than we do , its our conutry together . we nigerians says its 65 naira or we go back to the street , subsidy must have human face , it will come after a conducive platform is laid for it to strife , this money to be generated is for us all nigerias , they should carry us along , its not the personal money of the ministers , they should listen to us . well done NLC for your calmness , God will strenthen you the more , God bless nigeria.
Federal govt just have to realize that they are meant to govern and respect the opinion of the people they govern. The people can no longer condone there imposure on the masses. So they should revert their inconsequential decision.
The labour not FGN are the ones compounding people’s woe by their irresponsible strike. They should be charged with treason and deciet, because, they failed to tell the masses the truth before instigating them to protest just because they had been paid by the oil cartels. Furthermore, Government should hold Fashola and Tinubu responsible for sponsoring hooliganism in Lagos state. These hooligans goes nooks and crannies of the state forcing people to comply against their wishes by vandalising properties of those who dare go about their businesses, thereby compounding the woes of the average majority. They are also the ones paying all the Artistes at Gani Fawheini memorial ground to come and entertain the fun seeking congregations. Let subsidy go forever, so that our economy will grow and let the lazy ones go and work and stop depending on government alone.
My fellow nigerian I wonder how d wicked sleep at night with their well short without looking d other way round;to analysis this issues Imagine someone earning (eighteen thousand naira ) and a marketer for that matter with a qualification HND earning such an amount with an expenses of house rent, transportation,medical,PHCN,etc with wat is earning 18 thousand will it pay all this bill NO it wouldn’t and govt is increasing fuel price and ur saying is good does who are saying this check them very well their money making is nt clean I tell u this today for this reason anyone who says its ok for them to be selfish and self centre may they nt live long to enjoy that which they stole from this country even their family Amen.
@ Arome u ar an illiterate from the way u ve spoken and its a disease dat u need to remove from ur system hw could u say such a thing when we ve people who can’t afford transportation and meal when its 65 nw 140,150,etc nw were do u want them to get the purchasing power to feed if u want to increase fuel then increase people’s salary AROME u ar very wicked people like u should nt be allow to rule this country our generation will be wiped out.pls if u don’t ve anything to say pls don’t place comment here again
President jonathan is being influence by the evil secret advicers that want to see him leave office with disgrace..they have made him lose his God given heart and replace it with heart of submission to their will,president jonathan is a slave to them-principalities in high places-cant you see that bokoharm has kept their cool.?the president needs a prayer because he is a toy in their hands.i wont be surprise if he resigns or die in office.The president is weak in spirit and it is not his type that is meant to rule,he manage to rule Nigeria because fate must play its role.which may manifest has good out come as in the case of IBB or bad out come as in the case of Abacha..The president today can be likened to Lucifer who now became the devil,that i wil say is not a good fate.They have made the president a dictator and a thief in the sense that if the president those not have any gain in the removal of the fuel subsidy why must he be adamant in reversing it back since the citizens said no to the removal of the subsidy,is it not the same citizens he claims he wants to better their life..There is surely a hidden agenda in the removal of the fuel subsidy.They have manage to bring shame upon us the south south people because of the physical and spiritual weakenes of our president who is the first south south man to rule Nigeria.,is it not the same fuel subsidy that other presidents avoid to remove,why must it be president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,we can see with our very eye where goodluck turns to badluck,bringing untold hardship to the citizen of this great country Nigeria..we can see with our very eyes how they make the president from the south south a scapegoat..now all the governs clamour for the removal,liein to us that the money they wil get from the acrude subsidy wil be use for infrastructural developments and other political statement,yes,they have truely seen a scapegoat to carry all the blame..My dear,president,this is truely a hardluck for you,i sincerely cry for you in my heart because i know though you are the president,but you dont take decision yourself..yes! Because it is never in your heart to see the common man who voted for you to suffer or face hardship more great than the one he has being facing..you need a prayer mr president,too many curse has been proclaimed upon you by both the old and the young,that my president is not good..May the almighty Yahweh through his son Yahushua and by the power of the holy spirit free you from the covom of the evil minded children of the curse one,and give you directions on how to correct this mistake you have unwilling done and grant you the grace to rule this country to greatnes and to the shame of them that wish to witnes your down fall.AMEN………” MY DEAR EDITOR KINDLY POST THIS COMMENT OF MINE FOR THE WORLD TO SEE.I REMAIN MY HUMBLE SELF LAWSON ALEX DAIYIB0,FROM ABONNEMA RIVERS STATE.THANK YOU.
i appreciate the effort of the labour.they are doing a good job.the govt.is just insensitive to the issue at stake.is this the fresh air they promised us?well,no problem another election is coming-2015.we will all vote them out
Does GEJ, his team and other politicians realise they have lost the trust of ALL Nigerians? The protests are no longer abouth fuel subsidy but a culmination of all that Nigerians see as wrong with the system as it is configured presently.
The fuel subsidy removal and the resistance of the organised labour sector was simply the turning point at which the fear of Nigerians actually turned into anger.
Organised labour protests remain localised and peaceful while those of angry Nigerian youths are more volatile wherever these are expressed.
Nigerians just don’t want the reversal of an unpopular policy, we also demand a change of the status quo; we want accountability; we want our politicians and public officials to be paid reasonable wages and not extortionate allowances while we struggle to survice on peanuts; Nigerians believe peanuts are for monkeys and peanut pay from our politicians to us devalues us as human beings!
Nigerians demand equity and justice. If the blood of our leaders have to flow in order to achieve these, then so be it.
We all know our govt is not a serious on, they all lack real intelligence. We have been watching their excesses but it does not mean we are foolish. The subsidy should not be removed cos nothing will be done with the money its the same unserious govt. Okonjo iweala the world bank puppet has nothing to offer she is trained to be a cold fish, they are taught to control, dorminate, destroy economies without any remorse. Saint Sanusi 1 billion for ur official house, whoa. Honesty the beautiful ones are not yet born in our govt, all are liars
Verify your story….. what is your source (pls don’t heat up the polity more than necessary).
When i look at people saying that the subsidy should not be remove only because to them that the money will not be used to the betherment of the masses and u prefer to be given the money to the cartels and u want to remain the way u are without a change. One proverbs say if u they do same thing every day, make u change position by the way i think we r not being fair to ourselves. I think we should be protesting or talking about those the northerners are killing rather than protesting against a very good policy that is aimed at stebilizing the economy and help the common man. NLC is really decieving us. Open ur eyes. My brother Dr somebody, do u know how painful it is to lost sb only because he is from another tribe. I lost 2 kinsmen in mubi and their crime is just because they are igbos and having meetting to know how to transport the body of igbo men the housas killed and now they r dead. My younger brother was hospitalized in lagos on thursday for internal bleeding only because he is an igboman and mistakingly ran into the hands of yoruba youths with his friends and they collected their handsets and other valuables calling them names like badluck and that they should tell their brother jonathan to resign and u r still talking about praying for one nigeria. I can never pray for one nigeria that started killing my tribe since 1945. We have really tried to make other tribes see us as same under one nation but instead they prefer to see us die and shed tears of the lost of our people always. Onye na amaro ebe mmiri bidoro maba ya agaro ama ebe oga ama dobe ya. U were saying that we igbos cannot rule ourselves. I think that statement will only come from those igbos that can not handle their family well cus if u r in ur right sense u wouldnt tell me that u prefer to be ruled by those who look at u as a punching bag or a christmas goat. Ok because they have not killed one of ur relation. My brother majority of igbos are tied of being targets from every angle in this country and we need a country we can call our own
We need a country we can be proud of. And the country is BIAFRA. We dont want to be recognized as nigerians cus we targets under nigeria. Any time there is little provocation the housas and yorubas will decend on us why. No body says u wont live in lagos or abuja or any side of nigeria u want to live. But we want all Biafrans to live with their passport and visa and vise versa. Atleast with that we will respect each other views and rule and regulations and with that, it will be hard to here that this people kill these people cus no country will want the world to regard them as those who kill other nationals and with that we can live to love each other. When any person travel to north he will respect their sharia or lagos he respect their law and same thing to them that they will also respect our BIAFRAN law when they come to our land. Some pple say igbos cannot rule theirselves. I totally disagree with them cus we might have disagreements or as they say that our too much quest for money will not alow us to rule ourselves. Who go talk say him no like money or maybe if them put sugar for him mouth say him go vomit am. My brothers open ur eyes and wake up cus this killing that startet since 1945 will never stop until this people make sure they have wiped u out of the face of the earth. One person will now shout God forbid. Yes God will forbid only when u do what u r supposed to do and alow him God to do his own. Soso osisi nuru na aga egbu ya ma kwuru. Kanyi choba nu ewu oji mgbe chi ka di karia mgbe chi jiri. And i want to state it cathegorically clear here that the housas or the yorubas never liked u and will never like u. If u have lived among them u will agree with me that their hatred on every igbo or biafran person is written all over their faces, acts, speech and in every areas of their life and u know is true and they too are not hiden it but still u continue to use the blood of ur sons and daughters to apeess them and their gods which is a sacrilage before the GOD we serve which is the most high God.
My brothers be wise
A National dialog is urgently needed on all these matters at hand. Boka Haram is pushing the Nation towards Religious intolerance and separation. Subsidy cuts are a band-aid on a much larger Economic problem—Our Government spending and embezzelment is consuming an unsustainable amount of the oil income being generated! Official(s) income alone is taking up 25% of total National Income. Failure to diversify our Economy ,cut back on corruption and mis-management is leading to Economic suicide.
GoodLucks salary and allowances “shames” Obama!
Tribalism and Religious bias is a National problem that we all are guilty of.
We all need to re-educate ourselves and learn about each other–Your gray hairs,Phds and other titles dont mean you know it all! God help Nigeria and all we the people.