In this interview with Soji-Eze Fagbemi, the national presi-dent of SSANU, Comrade Samson Ugwok, bares his mind on the union’s stance regarding the fuel subsidy removal. Excerpts:

The NLC declared a total strike and mass protest. As an affiliate of the congress in the university system, how is your union going to key into this process? SSANU is a very responsible affiliate of NLC and we have always been involved in all activities of Nigeria Labour Congress. As you know, the reason for the strike is very clear. It involves all my members. We are all concerned as workers, the university sector and  the citizens of this country. We have met and sent the authority letters to all branches, all Nigerian universities and all university centres across the country to comply fully with the indefinite strike and mass protest. So we have mobilised our members across the country. Apart from the authority letters with the attachment of NLC communiqué, we have also sent text messages to all chairmen, secretaries and treasurers, that‘s NEC members of SSANU across the country. So we have mobilised our members.

What if the government calls you for a  dialogue? 
No, we take directives from NLC. I was at the NLC NEC meeting and we didn’t talk of dialogue. We met the government only once at the State House and the President said that the interactive session would be continuous and that he was going to direct his Labour Minister to always invite us for such interactions until we reached conclusion. We were surprised that on 1st of January 2012, the New Year package that the President had for us was 100 per cent removal of oil subsidy on which he had not concluded negotiation with labour. Our stand is that there is no negotiation until we have returned to the status quo. So if by tomorrow, they announce that they have returned to the status quo, NLC will call NEC meeting to direct our members accordingly.

What do you mean returning to the status quo? 
That is fuel price going back to N65 per litre. Then that will now mean they have created a level ground to start discussion.

So without reverting  to N65 per litre, labour won’t negotiate with government? 
That means the action continues. We have not talked of the setting up of committee. Setting up  Belgore committee is putting the cart before the horse. This is what should have been done earlier. They are lobbying people, lobbying organisations that don‘t even exist, spending hard-earned money of the nation.The money that is supposed to be used in infrastructural development and development of education sector is being used in lobbying people to support the anti-people policy of oil subsidy removal. This money could be garnered and channelled judiciously in one or two areas of national needs, and the impact would be felt and everybody will see it. There is no democratic nation that can do what they did, no nation all over the world will send an ugly message to its nationals on the first day of the year. This is an indication that they are insensitive to the suffering of the masses, recalcitrant and irresponsible.  You can’t wake up on the 1st of January and do just that. That means they are not democratic, not even the military government can do it. Nigerians are mourning the death and disaster of 25th of December, the Christmas day and up till now, government has no solution to that disaster. As if that was not enough, you slapped them with the second side of the cheek; it is irresponsibility!

With what you have seen from your mobilisation, do you believe that Nigerians will continue to heed the call of labour and come out en-masse?
It has already started. People even felt that waiting till Monday to start the strike and protest was  late. Look at people’s faces, you see sadness. What we are planning now is how to control it so that it doesn’t  go out of hand. If the government is not very careful it will go out of hand and nobody will be certain of the end result. The government  should be very careful. We have mobilised.

With the experience of the North African,  one fears this can move gradually to that  revolutionary stage? 
If it does, it will be better. We desperately need a government that will be very responsible and that will be people-oriented, taking care of Nigerians. It is not the birthright of anybody to rule Nigeria and misrule it. They have misused us as “Asewo” (prostitute). I think we should say enough is enough. Nigerians are saying enough is enough. The political class has misused Nigerians to the extent that on the New Year day, they said to hell with us, and those are the people who claimed we elected them democratically. Whatever comes out of it, we will be happy.

Considering the negative impact of strike on the economy, do you think this is the right step to take? 
Are we talking of economy when the same economy is in a shambles? People cannot eat, cannot move about freely and were trapped in their villages where they had gone to celebrate Christmas and New Year.They got to motor park on the 1st and 2nd of January to discover that they could not travel back because the transport fares had  risen up beyond what they planned for. People had to go back to the villages to borrow to travel. If we can close down the economy for one month and thereafter revive it, that will bring an era of good policy and the government will get into good hands that will imbibe people-oriented policy. Even if we can shut down everything for a month or for a year and come back to revive Nigeria, it is better.

What is the position of labour now? 
Labour’s understanding with government is that subsidy could be removed if all four refineries are revived, put at full capacity and new refineries are built to produce for local consumption to make fuel available everywhere, at anytime, and at affordable costs for Nigerians because we are an oil-producing nation. We equally talked of fixing of roads, provision of good and effective transportation system. These are the conditions we agreed to  that brought about the price of N65 in the first place. That was the ground, but nothing of such happened. For now, the rails are dead, the roads are terrible. Where is all the money going?  They depleted our reserves and used all our money for elections and they are now telling us the country will crash if fuel subsidy stays.