Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the toothless bulldog barks has barked again, threatening to resumes it’s suspended strike over fuel hike if the Federal Government doesn’t do the needful.
The Nigeria Labour Congress stated that the government must abide by its demands in order to lessen the impact of eliminating the fuel subsidy prior to the meeting between the Federal Government and organised labour slated for today (Monday).
The union vowed to urge for workers to participate in industrial action and added that it had just postponed its intended strike.
It claimed that Nigerians were suffering intolerable hardship as a result of the high cost of petrol and urged the government to respond quickly to provide palliatives since the NLC anticipated 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.
According to the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, who led the government side, 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.
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.
“There are a lot of things that labour has been putting before the government. The refineries need to be revamped. We cannot continue to import refined petroleum products and be spending on subsidies all the time.
“Labour has its set of demands and by the time we meet with the government tomorrow we will list them out again,” he stated.
“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.