Prior to the scheduled meeting between the Federal Government and organized labour today (Monday), the Nigeria Labour Congress, or NLC, has threatened to go on strike.

The NLC is requesting that the government meet its demands in order to mitigate the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy. 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.

The high cost of fuel, according to NLC, was causing unimaginable hardship for Nigerians. It added that it expected the minimum wage to rise from N30,000 to N150,000 and urged the government to move quickly in providing palliatives.

Recall that on June 5, 2023, the Federal Government and labour unions met and decided to meet again on June 19 to determine how the resolutions reached would be implemented.

Femi Gbajabiamila, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and current Chief of Staff to the President, who led the government side, revealed this at the end of a meeting between labour and government representatives at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. 

Gbajabiamila stated that the June 5 meeting agreed on a seven-point resolution to mitigate the impact of the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, commonly known as petrol, on Nigerians.

He said, “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.

“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 programme.

“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,” he said.

However, speaking on the expectations of labor from the meeting scheduled for today (Monday), Adewale Adeyanju, Vice President, NLC, said a lot of things had been presented by labour unions, emphasizing 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.

On the action the NLC would take should the government fail to give in to the demands of labour, Adeyanju said, “You know we only suspended our strike as a result of the need to meet on this.

“So the government should know that things are becoming difficult and they (the government) should not decide to do anything funny. The strike was only suspended. It was an ultimatum that was given out and it (strike) was suspended.

“So let’s hear what the government has for us and then we will know what to tell our members. It is about the lives of the people. Let’s meet them tomorrow and then labour will come out with its position.”

Adeyanju insisted that the NLC would not want the government to act inappropriately and expressed optimism that the meeting would be productive.

“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.

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 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.

“That meeting tomorrow (Monday) is very crucial, because marketers are ready to deploy CNG, but the outcome of that meeting will tell us whether the government is ready to give the support needed to make this initiative fruitful.

“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 said.