Kayode Kolawole
Ahead of the meeting between the Federal Government and the Labour Union scheduled to hold on monday, the Nigeria Labour Congress has said the government must meet its demands to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal.
The union threatened that it would not hesitate to call out workers for industrial action, adding that it only suspended its planned strike.
It further stated that the high cost of fuel was inflicting unbearable hardship on Nigerians, noting that the government must act fast with respect to providing palliatives, as the Union said it was expecting an increase in the minimum wage from N30,000 to N150,000.
NEWSTODAYNG recalled that the Federal Government and Labour Unions’ met on June 5, 2023, with a resolution to reconvene on June 19 to agree on the implementation framework of the resolutions reached.
The Former Speaker of the House of Representatives and current Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, who led the government side, had disclosed this at the end of the meeting between labour and government representatives at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to him, the June 5 meeting agreed on a seven-point resolution to cushion the effect of the subsidy removal on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, on Nigerians.
“The Federal Government, the TUC, and the NLC to establish a joint committee to review the proposal for any wage increase or award and establish a framework and timeline for implementation.
“The Federal Government, the TUC and the NLC to review the World Bank Financed Cash transfer scheme and propose the inclusion of low-income earners in the programme.
“The Federal Government, the TUC and the NLC to revive the CNG conversion programme earlier agreed with Labour centres in 2021 and work out detailed implementation and timing,” Gbajabiamila had stated.
However, when contacted on Sunday to speak on the expectations of the Union from the meeting scheduled to hold today, the Vice President, NLC, Adewale Adeyanju, said a lot of things had been presented by labour unions, stressing that the government should not act funny.
He, however, expressed optimism that the meeting would be fruitful and insisted that the NLC would not want the government to behave funny.
“We hope that the meeting is going to be fruitful. The expectations are very high. The nation is watching and people are looking at how the Nigeria Labour Congress is going to handle the situation.
“And the government too will not like to behave funny because they know the country is battling with the increase in fuel pump price and so many things.” He stated.