Metro

Petrol Price Hike: Tinubu tricked us into accepting N70k minimum wage— NLC

Published

3 days ago

September 4, 2024

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has accused President Bola Tinubu of betraying and tricking labour unions during negotiations for a new minimum wage, and by extension, Nigerians, following a fresh hike in petrol price amid the lingering fuel scarcity across the country.

President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, while reacting to the fuel price hike in a statement on Tuesday, described the situation as not only traumatic but nightmarish for Nigerian citizens.

The labour leader especially frowned at what he said was Tinubu’s promise not to increase fuel price during the meetings between the NLC and government.

Ajaero recalled that Tinubu had told both NLC and TUC leadership during the negotiation of minimum wage to pick between N250,000 and increase in price of fuel or accept N70,000 and allow the price of fuel remain the same.

Ajaero also lampooned the government for the the situation, saying instead of ensuring the promised reversal, the rate has since been jacked up further, adding that it is already putting more Nigerians and businesses in jeopardy.

“We recall vividly when Mr President gave us the devil’s alternatives to choose from: either N250,000 as minimum wage (subject to the rise of the pump price between N1,500 and N2,000) and N70,000 (at old pms rates), we opted for the latter because we could not bring ourselves to accept further punishment on Nigerians,” Ajaero said.

“But here we are, barely one month after and with government yet to commence payment of the new national minimum wage, confronted by a reality we cannot explain. It is both traumatic and nightmarish.

“Yet, when we told government that it’s approach to resolving the fuel subsidy contradictions was patently faulty and would not last, it’s front row cheer leaders sneered at us, saying we did not understand basic economics.

“But if truth be told, this act of betrayal is consistent with the character of this government. We recall the assurances we were given by the leadership of the National Assembly on the 250% tariff hike, that it had been dealt with and there was no need to openly engage the Minister of Power who was at that meeting.

“Instead of the promised reversal, the rate has since been jerked up further putting more Nigerians and businesses in jeopardy. The combined effects of government’s ferocious right -wing market policies brought Nigerians and Nigeria to their all-time low and led to the End-Hunger/End Bad Governance protests.”

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Metro

‘I took hard decisions for Nigeria’s development’, Tinubu tells China-based Nigerians

Published

2 hours ago

September 7, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reiterated that the decisions he has taken since he became the Nigerian leader last year have been geared towards making the country as developed as the first world countries.

President Tinubu, who made the assertion while addressing Nigerians resident in China on Friday on the sideline of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), said despite the hardship being faced by citizens, his reforms were in the best interest of the country.

Speaking specifically on the increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Tinubu said the petrol price hike and other reforms by his administration are part of an overall strategy to set Nigeria on the path of economic growth.

“Nigeria is going through reforms, and we are taking very bold and unprecedented decisions. For example, you might have been hearing from home in the last few days about fuel prices,” Tinubu said.

“What is the critical part to get us there if we cannot take hard decisions to pave the way for a country that is blessed and so talented?

“The more you want everything free, it will become more expensive and long-delayed to achieve meaningful development.”

He added that though Nigerian citizens are crying out over his policies which have plunged majority into poverty, the hard decisions are crucial to economic prosperity.

“But, can we help it? Can we develop good roads like you have here? You see electricity being constant in quantity and quality. You see water supply, constant and running, and you see their good schools. And we say we want to hand over a banner without stain to our children?

“So many of you are so talented, speaking very fluent Mandarin. It is what you contribute and tell them at home that will reflect in the attitude of our people.”

The President stated that though it is not always easy to have a national consensus on issues, he is ready to take the hard decisions to move the nation forward.

“One economic action leads to another, and it is in your hand to build our nation. Mine is to provide the leadership, and I am committed to doing just that. We are focused, and I have a very good team,” he added.

Metro

Kenya experiences second major blackout in weeks

Published

18 hours ago

September 6, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Although 70% of consumers had their electricity restored by late afternoon, Kenya experienced its second significant blackout in as many weeks on Friday, according to the country’s energy minister and national distributor, Kenya Power.

According to a statement from Energy Minister, Opiyo Wandayi, the power outage was caused by a transmission line tripping at a substation, which was followed by another trip on the high-voltage transmission line between Ethiopia and Kenya.

“The loss of 488MW, accounting for 27.3% of the total generation, resulted in cascade failure and a partial collapse of the grid,” Wandayi said.

“What we are witnessing today has built up over time and is a result of sub-optimal investment in infrastructure.”

The blackout, which lasted for many hours on August 30 and affected multiple districts of the largest economy in East Africa, came after another one.

The Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) said that the outage affected all regions except North Rift and Western. Although Kenya Power hasn’t stated the cause of the incident, it has however corporation apologised and promised to fix it.

Over the past year, Kenya has had several blackouts, one of which completely darkened Nairobi’s main airport.