Labour Threatens Another Strike Over Fuel Subsidy Removal

 

Organised labour has threatened to embark on strike action ahead of its scheduled meeting with the Federal Government today.

 

The Nigeria Labour Congress said the government must meet its demands to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal, if the strike must be averted.

 

The union threatened that it would not hesitate to call out workers for industrial action, adding that it only suspended its planned strike, according to Punch.

 

It stated that the high cost of fuel was inflicting unbearable hardship on Nigerians, adding that the government must act fast with respect to providing palliatives, as the NLC said it was expecting an increase in the minimum wage from N30,000 to N150,000.

 

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 revive the CNG conversion programme earlier agreed with Labour centres in 2021 and work out detailed implementation and timing,” Gbajabiamila had stated.

  

But when contacted on Sunday to speak on the expectations of labour from the meeting scheduled to hold today (Monday), 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.

“Labour has its set of demands and by the time we meet with the government tomorrow we will list them out again,” he stated.

 

Asked to state what action the NLC would take should the government fail to give in to the demands of labour, considering the plight currently faced by Nigerians with respect to the removal of subsidy, Adeyanju replied, “You know we only suspended our strike as a result of the need to meet on this.

Adeyanju, however, expressed optimism that the meeting would be fruitful and insisted that the NLC would not want the government to behave funny.

“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.

 

On the proposal by oil marketers for the deployment of Compressed Natural Gas at filling stations, the NLC official stated that a technical committee had been set up by the Federal Government to look into the matter.

“The government has set up a technical committee on some of these issues. So I don’t want us to preempt the outcomes that will come out from that meeting tomorrow between labour and the government,” he stated.

 

Commenting on the need to deploy CNG, the National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Okonkwo, stated that oil marketers were looking forward to the outcomes of the meeting between the Federal Government and labour before making their moves.

 

“We are very confident that with the deployment of CNG as a substitute to PMS, the harsh effect caused by petrol price hike would be addressed significantly,” Okonkwo stated on Sunday.

 

The NLC also stated on Sunday that it was expecting an increment in minimum wage from N30,000 to between N150,000 and N200,000.

 

It further urged President Bola Tinubu to ensure that borders were re-opened to ensure smooth importation and exportation of food and farm products.

 

The National Treasurer, NLC, Hakeem Ambali, made the disclosure in an interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja.

 

When asked about the expectations of the NLC from today’s meeting, Ambali said, “We are saying that since petrol prices have increased by three folds, we expect minimum wage to be increased to a minimum of between N150,000 to N200,000.”

 

He said the expectation of the NLC was also that President Bola Tinubu would grant operational licenses for the creation of more modular refineries.

 

“Also, on the issue of energy, some Nigerians buy fuel for their generators and provide power for themselves, we want a review of the corrupt privatisation of the energy sector that gave generation and sale of energy to private individuals who have not added value to energy consumption in Nigeria,” he stated.

 

He said it was time for the government to look inward and see that these individuals were discharged for incompetence.

 

“The cost of running governance is too high. We also looked at that and we are of the opinion that the high cost of governance and number of appointments be brought down. We also believe that there should be a micro-credit scheme that should be put in place that will give loans to farmers and entrepreneurs at small digit rates,” he stated.

  

Amballi called for palliatives for Nigerians, as the price of consumables had skyrocketed.

 

Also speaking on the subject, the National Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress, Tommy Etim, urged the government to ensure that the requests in the charter of demands presented to the government were met.

 

“Government must be fast in its actions. It is expected that by tomorrow, we would have reached a concrete agreement even as the negotiations continue,” he stated.