The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), on Monday agreed to suspend for 30 days, the planned indefinite nationwide strike scheduled to begin, Tuesday, October 3, 2023.
The decision followed the agreements reached between the organised Labour and the federal government on the provision of palliatives by the government to ease the suffering of Nigerians that came with withdrawal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) by the Federal Government and the resultant increase in the price of the commodity.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had issued a strike notice which had elapsed and they were poised to embark on a strike billed to commence on Tuesday, October 3, 2023.
Consequently, a meeting was called by the Federal Government to avert the strike and after much discussion, that produced the agreements to suspend the strike for 30 days.
In the agreements which was signed by Joe Ajaero for the NLC and, Festus Osifo, for the TUC, the Federal Government agreed to grant a wage award of N35,000 to all Federal Government workers beginning from the month of September pending when a new national minimum wage is expected to have been signed into law
They also agreed to set up a minimum wage committee within one month from the date of this agreement, while the government also greed to suspends collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) on Diesel for six months beginning from October, 2023.
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Federal Government also accepted to vote N100 billion for the provision of high capacity CNG buses for mass transit in Nigeria, while provisions are also being made for initial 55,000 CNG conversion kits to kick start an auto gas conversion programme, whilst work is ongoing on state-of-the-art CNG stations nationwide. The rollout aims to commence by November with pilots across 10 campuses nationwide.
Others include the planned implementation of various tax incentive measures for private sector and the general public.
On the leadership crises rocking the NURTW and the purported proscription of RTEAN, the Federal Government commits to handling Labour matters in line with relevant ILO Conventions and Nigerian Labour Acts. A resolution of the ongoing impasse is expected by or before October 13.
The issue of outstanding Salaries and Wages of Tertiary Education workers in Federal-owned educational institutions was referred to Ministry of Labour and Employment for further engagement.
The Federal Government also said it is committed to pay N25,000 per month for three months starting from October, 2023 to 15 million households, including vulnerable pensioners.
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The Federal Government also agreed to increase its initiatives on subsidized distribution of fertilizers to farmers across the country.
“The Federal Government should urge State Government through the National Economic Council and Governors Forum to implement wage award for their workers. Similar consideration should also be given to local government and private sector workers.
“The Federal Government commits to the provision of funds as announced by the President on the August 1, broadcast to the Nation for Micro and Small Scale Enterprises. The MSMEs beneficiaries should commit to the principle of decent jobs.
“A joint visitation will be made to the refineries to ascertain their rehabilitation status.
“All parties commit to henceforth abide by the dictates of Social dialogue in all our future engagements.
“This Memorandum shall be filed with the relevant Court of competent jurisdiction within one (1) week as consent judgment by the Federal Government.”
Simon Bako Lalong, Minister of Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Minister of State for Labour and Employment and Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, signed for the federal government
