Organised Labour has disagreed with the Federal Government after hours of meeting over the planned strike on Wednesday to protest the recent hike in price of petrol.
The Federal Government's effort to stop the organised labour from embarking on an indefinite strike has ended with labour disagreeing with government over the hike in price of petrol.
Briefing journalists at the end of the four-hour meeting on Tuesday morning, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal, said the two parties had “a fruitful discussion and will continue from where we stopped.”
It was gathered that the meeting ended at about 12 midnight, will resume at 3pm on Tuesday (today). But, Lawal, however, refused to answer further questions from newsmen.
It was learnt that the Federal Government also started another round of meeting with the Joe Ajaero-led faction of the labour movement at about 12.15am on Tuesday after its meeting with the Ayuba Wabba-led Nigeria Labour Congress.
According to Punch, those at the first meeting included Wabba; NLC General Secretary, Peter Ozo-Esun; NUPENG president, Igwe Achese; PENGASSAN President, Olabode Johnson; TUC President, Bobboi Kaigama; Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige; Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang; and the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole.
It has been revealed that labour leaders were not convinced by the figures presented by the government team.
Labour has said it would embark on strike after the Federal Government announced increase in the price of petrol to N145 without consulting stakeholders and the people.
While giving reason for the increase, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed stated, “We have no choice but to liberalise the price of petrol if we are to end the crippling fuel scarcity that has enveloped the country, ensure the availability of the product and end the suffering of our people over the lingering scarcity.”
Debunking a claim that the new price regime was about removal of subsidy, he said, “There is no subsidy to remove because no provision was made for subsidy in the 2016 budget. Last year, the government paid out N1tn in subsidy, and that’s one sixth of this year’s budget. We can’t afford to pay another N1tn in subsidy.
“With the drastic fall in the price of crude oil, which is the nation’s main foreign exchange earner, there has also been a drastic reduction in the amount of foreign exchange available.
“The unavailability of forex and the inability to open letters of credit have forced marketers to stop product importation and imposed over 90 per cent supply on the NNPC since October 2015, in contrast to the past where NNPC supplied 48 per cent of the national requirement.
"Our answer to that is that there is no basis for comparison. The conditions in 2012 were vastly different from the conditions now.
“Then, oil was selling for over 100 dollars a barrel, compared to just a little over 40 dollars a barrel now. Then, the country was awash in forex, thanks to the high earnings from oil. Then the foreign reserves were high.
“The new price regime is simply inevitable.
“The liberalisation of petrol supply and distribution will allow marketers and any Nigerian entity, willing to supply PMS, to source for their forex and import PMS to ensure the availability of the products in all locations of the country.”
But, Organised Labour has accused the government of intentionally bringing punishment on the masses by its latest decision to hike petrol as citizens have cried out as a result of increased cost of living.