- Says No to Fuel Price Increase
- Calls on NLC, TUC to Declare 2-Day General Strike
THE Revolutionary Socialist Movement (RSM) has called on Nigerians to rise up against the anti-poor and pro-rich neoliberal policies of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, as it backs the resolution of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to embark on a nationwide protest on 27th January and 1st February, 2022.
RSM also called on the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to declare a two-day general strike as part of a concrete plan of resistance against the neoliberal policies of government.
In a statement on Tuesday by Comrade Salako Kayode, Publicity Secretary, the RSM vowed to support and take part in the mass protests to reject government’s renewed attacks on the poor through series of neoliberal policies.
According to the statement, the plan of action by the NLC and TUC must include a 48-hour general strike by the entire Nigerian workforce.
“No other means of struggle but strike action will be taken seriously by the establishment; no other kind of struggle can force them to retreat and abandon their policies that attack the working class, the poor and the youth. Strike activity paralyses the economy and attacks the capitalist class where it hurts them most: their profits.
“The Federal Government has always deceived the masses by saying it is necessary to remove the fuel subsidy. At the beginning of the present administration’s term, the fuel price was at 95 Naira (the present exchange rate between the euro and the Naira is about €1:N465) and today the Nigerian people are paying N165. This government has increased fuel prices twice in the course of its term.
“Despite the protests of the NLC against the removal of the fuel subsidy, the ruling capitalist class in Nigeria is determined to do what is in the interests of their profits and of their imperialist supporters and allies. Just to site one example, recently the World Bank stated that: “It is high time the Nigerian Government removed the subsidy on fuel”.
“The recent statement of the NLC should represent the beginning of the mobilization of its rank and file to prepare for a protracted struggle to stop this capitalist/imperialist agenda in Nigeria. Only through mass action can this new attack be blocked,” RSM said.
Stating that the trade union movement in Nigeria ought to be at the forefront of this struggle, the RSM said the leadership of the trade unions has however lost the confidence of big chunk of the progressive activists as well as of the entire working class “because of its past betrayals, like the suspension of the general strike on 28th September, 2020.”
It therefore called on the leadership of the unions to solidify a strong base of resistance from below through the involvement of the rank and file activists.
“RSM welcomes all actions to resist this attack on the masses. We particularly stress the need for a united struggle of all trade union centres to make sure our movement is not divided or split. Both the NLC and the TUC must reject deregulation as well as the arguments about the lack of finances that the Federal Government uses. They must expose and severely criticise the political elite – the Nigerian political office holders are among the highest paid in the world at the same time as applying austerity policies against working people and the poor.
“RSM will also actively support the peoples’ alternative political movement, TPAP-M, that plans protests, in order to commemorate the “Occupy movement” of the January 2012 removal of fuel subsidy struggle. We call upon TPAP-M to link the struggle to put an end to the high salaries and privileges of the political office holders.
“We call on NLC and TUC to link these struggles with the struggle against deregulation, for the immediate reduction of cooking gas and electricity tariffs as well as against insecurity, repression and mass killings across Nigeria.
“We demand that key sectors of the economy should be nationalised and democratically controlled by elected representatives of workers and the masses,” RSM stated.
