The Federal Government and organized labor are scheduled to hold a meeting today (Monday), and the Nigeria Labour Congress, or NLC, has threatened to go on strike.
The NLC is requesting that the government comply with its demands in order to lessen the impact of the removal of fuel subsidies.
It added that it had only suspended its planned strike and that it would not hesitate to call for workers to participate in industrial action.
NLC claimed that Nigerians were experiencing intolerable hardship as a result of the high cost of fuel.
It added that it expected the minimum wage to rise from N30,000 to N150,000 and demanded that the government provide palliatives quickly.
Recall that on June 5, 2023, the Federal Government and labor unions met and resolved to meet again on June 19 to determine how the resolutions reached would be implemented.
This was revealed at the conclusion of the meeting between labor and government representatives at the Presidential Villa in Abuja by Femi Gbajabiamila, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives and current Chief of Staff to the President.
According to Gbajabiamila, a seven-point resolution was adopted at the June 5 meeting to mitigate the effects of the removal of subsidies for Premium Motor Spirit, or gasoline, 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 to establish a framework and timeline for implementation,” he declared.
“The World Bank Financed Cash Transfer Scheme will be reviewed by the Federal Government, the TUC, and the NLC, who will propose adding low-income earners to the program.
“The Federal Government, the TUC, and the NLC will work out detailed implementation and timing for the CNG conversion program that was previously agreed with Labor centers in 2021,” he said.
The Vice President of the NLC, Adewale Adeyanju, however, said that many things had been presented by labor unions and stressed that the government shouldn’t act silly when speaking about the expectations of labor from the meeting that is scheduled to take place today (Monday).
“Labor has been presenting the government with a number of issues. Renovating the refineries is necessary. We cannot keep importing refined petroleum products and constantly spend money on subsidies.
By the time we meet with the government tomorrow, “Labour has its set of demands, and we will list them out again,” he said.
When asked what would happen if the government refused to budge on labor’s demands, Adeyanju responded, “You know we only suspended our strike because we needed to meet on this.
Therefore, the government should be aware that conditions are deteriorating and refrain from taking any absurd actions. The strike was merely put on hold. The strike was put on hold after an ultimatum was issued.
“So let’s hear what the government has to say so that we can inform our members accordingly. The lives of the people are at issue. Let’s meet with them tomorrow, and after that, labor will announce its stance.
Adeyanju, however, was upbeat about the outcome of the meeting and insisted that the NLC would not want the government to act strangely.
“We anticipate the meeting yielding positive results. High standards have been set. The Nigeria Labour Congress’ response to the situation is being closely watched by the country.
“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 other things,” he added.
A technical committee had been established by the Federal Government to look into the proposal by oil marketers to install compressed natural gas at filling stations, according to an NLC official.
“On some of these issues, the government has established a technical committee. I don’t want us to foreshadow what will happen at the meeting between the government and labor tomorrow, he said.
The National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Okonkwo, commented on the necessity of deploying CNG and said that oil marketers were waiting to act on the results of the meeting between the Federal Government and labor.
The outcome of that meeting will let us know whether the government is prepared to provide the support required to make this initiative successful. Marketers are ready to deploy CNG, so tomorrow’s (Monday) meeting is crucial.
“We are very confident that the harsh effect caused by the increase in gasoline prices would be significantly addressed with the deployment of CNG as a substitute to PMS,” Okonkwo said.
