The Organised Labour made up of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, Monday agreed to suspend its planned strike scheduled to begin tomorrow to enable further negotiations with the Federal Government.
This was part of the resolutions reached at the end of the meeting late yesterday evening.
Monday’s meeting and resolution were attended and signed by Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President; Festus Osifo, President, TUC; Nuhu Torò, Secretary General, TUC; Joseph Ajaero, President, NLC; Emmanuel Ugboaja mni, General Secretary, NLC and Ms Kachollom S. Daju, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Other resolutions arrived at the meeting include: “Continued engagements by the TUC and the NLC with the Federal Government and secure closure on the resolutions above.
“The Labour Centres and the Federal Government are to meet on June 19, 2023, to agree on an implementation framework.
According to the Negotiating Committee, the Federal Government, the TUC and the NLC are 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 program.
•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.
•The Labour centres and the Federal Government to review issues hindering effective delivery in the education sector and propose solutions for implementation.
•The Labour centres and the Federal Government to review and establish the framework for the completion of the rehabilitation of the nation’s refineries.
•The Federal Government to provide a framework for the maintenance of roads and expansion of rail networks across the country.
•All other demands submitted by the TUC to the Federal Government will be assessed by the joint committee.
Shortly after the commencement of Monday’s sit-down, the national industrial court had restrained TUC and NLC from embarking on the industrial action.
Delivering the ruling on Monday, Olufunke Anuwe, the presiding judge, said the unions should halt the planned strike pending the hearing and determination of the ex parte motion filed by the federal government.
During his inauguration speech on May 29, President Bola Tinubu declared that “petrol subsidy is gone”.
The president’s pronouncement immediately led to a resurfacing of queues at petrol stations and a hike in the pump price of the product across the country.
Organised labour had subsequently met with the government team but the sit-down ended in deadlock and was rescheduled for Sunday.
The labour unions are insisting that the new price template from the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) should be reverted to the old pump price before there will be any meaningful negotiation.
Federal government representatives at the last meeting included Dele Alake, spokesperson for the government’s delegation; group CEO of NNPCL Mele Kyari; governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele; and Adams Oshiomhole, former governor of Edo state.
George Akume, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF); Zacch Adedeji, executive secretary of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC); and Yemi Adetunji, executive vice president, downstream of the NNPCL, were also in attendance.