Election Tribunal To Shut Down Following Subsidy Removal

Election petition courts across the country will be closed this week as the Nigerian Union of Judicial Employees (JUSUN) has announced that it will join the Nigerian Labour Congress in a walkout over the withdrawal of federal subsidies for petroleum products. CONTINUE READING>>>

President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the subsidies when he took office last week, which immediately put the country in a dire economic situation as workers anticipated draconian changes in commodity prices across the country.

Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party are challenging Tinubu’s declaration as president at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja. The strike, which begins on Wednesday, is expected to affect other courts hearing cases ranging from state assembly elections to governorship elections.

In a memorandum dated 3 June, the Judicial Officers Union said its members would continue a solidarity protest strike on Wednesday with the largest workers’ union, the Nigerian Labour Congress.

“We are hereby informing all branches and departments of our great union across Nigeria to commence mobilization for nationwide action and withdrawal from service,” reads a memo shared with Peoples Gazette late Sunday. CONTINUE READING>>>

Isaiah Adetola, a leader of JUSUN, who signed the memo, told the Gazette in the ensuing exchange of views that the strike would affect all judicial officers and that the Presidential Petition Tribunal would also have to stop work.

“We cannot stand by and watch the poor masses of Nigerians die on the streets because a government has said there will be no going back from the abolition of subsidy,” Mr. Adetola said. “This cannot be a realistic or acceptable situation for Nigerian workers”.

Mr. Adetola said Nigerian workers were not necessarily opposed to the removal of petrol subsidies, which had been in place since the 1970s, but condemned the way Mr. Tinubu had imposed the policy. Millions of Nigerians are expected to sink deeper into poverty as food prices in the country skyrocket.

JUSUN, which has more than 120,000 members, is the latest critical sectoral union to join the NLC-led strike that has begun.

Over the weekend, the National Union of Electricity Workers also informed its members that it was suspending services in protest at the removal of fuel subsidies.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari, who left office on May 29, planned to end gasoline subsidies at the end of June and removed provisions for critical policies in the 2023 budget.

Mr. Tinubu, an ally of Mr. Buhari who has vowed to continue the policies of the ruling BCP, quickly embraced the policy and said in his inauguration speech on May 29 that “subsidies are over.” His declaration caused panic across the country as citizens rushed to buy fuel and oil traders suddenly raised pump prices. CONTINUE READING>>>

Mr. Tinubu argued that oil subsidies had benefited the rich and upper working class in Nigeria at the expense of the poor over the decades. He promised to use the savings from the subsidy phase-out to support infrastructure spending and poverty reduction initiatives targeting the masses in the country.

On May 31, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced an increase in fuel prices at filling stations, which jumped from N195 per liter to over N500 per liter nationwide.