The federal government on Sunday continued its dialogue with the leadership of the organised Labour in a bid to halt the proposed strike over the subsidy removal and fuel price increase, even as members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) shunned the meeting.
Following the NLC’s absence, the government’s team led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, only met with the officials of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), led by its President, Festus Osifo.
The TUC President, while addressing State House Journalists, after the meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, listed its demands which include an increase in the minimum wage, and tax relief for categories of people as well as asked the government to revert to the status quo as negotiations continue.
While the government side acknowledged the feasibility of the demands, they stated that the demands would be presented to President Bola Tinubu with immediate effect, assuring that it is actively engaging with the umbrella union body, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which was conspicuously absent at the meeting, which had recently announced a nationwide strike starting from Wednesday this week.
The NLC had insisted that the government must revert to the previous petrol pump price, a panacea for joining the dialogue.
The spokesman for the government’s delegation to the meeting, Dele Alake, also told State House Correspondents after the meeting that most of the demands “are not impracticable”.
This is as he assured that they would be tabled before the President whose decisions will be reverted to labour leaders at the next round of negotiations fixed for Tuesday.
Asked if the other demand by Labour that the new pump price of petrol is reversed pending the conclusion of negotiations, Alake said that decision would likely be taken on Tuesday when both sides meet again.
Alake, who spoke on NLC’s absence, said “Maybe they were unable to finalise with the NEC of the union before the meeting, but added that despite their absence, the negotiations will continue with all labour unions and stakeholders.
On whether the team was also negotiating with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), separately, Alake said no, but that they are making efforts to reach the congress.
He said: “Well, as you all know, we had this reconvened meeting today as we promised you a few days ago when we had the initial meeting with the Labour movement.
“We said we were going to reconvene today to keep the engagement on to diffuse the tension in the land as a result of the withdrawal of subsidy, which is a reality.
“Now, we are very happy to announce to Nigerians that this engagement has been very productive.
“The TUC that attended today’s meeting presented a list of demands and those demands we have studied and we are going to present to Mr President, for his consideration.
“But those demands we can announce to Nigerians that a lot of the items on the list are not impracticable. What we need to do is to study the numbers very well. Then, we asked the TUC to also give us a leeway to consult very exhaustively and reconvene on Tuesday to look at the numbers, viability, and practicability of all the items that have been presented to us.
“Now, the most important and top priority on the list which the government is also looking at very seriously and the president has announced before, is the issue of the minimum wage which the Labour movement has demanded is the consequential impact of this removal of subsidy.
“So, the government is to look at that and Mr President is most likely going to constitute a tripartite committee, that is a committee of the federal government, including the state and then the organised Labour and the private sector.
“Now, this is a tripartite arrangement, it will be a committee that will study all the dynamics of a wage increase in percentages, the numbers and the categories that will be affected.
“So, by Tuesday when we come back to reconvene, to meet with the TUC again, we should have very concrete items to present to the world.
“But the most important thing for today is that we are making appreciable progress with the Labour.”
When asked to disclose the demands, the spokesman said: “It is a list but we are not going to be listing all of them now. The most important is the minimum wage, which is an increase in the minimum wage. Because, when this thing is removed, Labour argues that there is an immediate impact on the workers, on the purchasing power because the price of fuel has gone up.
Read also: Petrol price hike puts millions of businesses on edge
“So, that will necessarily reduce the purchasing power of the average worker. So, the next thing of immediate consequence is to increase the purchasing power of the worker. So, that to me and all of us on this side is the top priority on the list.
“There are other things like the tax holidays in which some categories of workers will be beneficiaries. But the most important is the minimum wage.”
Alake explained: “No. We are not. but we are making efforts to reach NLC. We all agreed that we are going to meet here but again, in this game there are dynamics. Sometimes, they could be meeting with their executives and not able to meet with us, or they could want to postpone or they have not articulated their list of demands as the TUC.
“But we cannot second guess why they are not here. But efforts are being made to reach them, we are not isolating them at all.”
On whether the meeting discussed the claim by one of Tinubu’s spokesmen, Bayo Onanuga’s claim that NLC was working for the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the just concluded elections, Peter Obi, Alake declared: “No not at all. It has no relevance to the discussion on the concrete terms of the welfare of the workers.
“Our discussion was majorly on the welfare of workers, how to cushion the impact of this subsidy removal on workers that’s all. Not on any political partisanship.”
The government team also comprised the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele; the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari and former Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole.
Others include the Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Zacch Adedeji; Executive Vice President, Downstream, of the NNPCL, Yemi Adetunji; former Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dele Alake and James Faleke.
Recall that the Nigeria Labour Congress had earlier given notice of a planned strike from Wednesday 7th June over the fuel price hike resulting from the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government.
Speaking with State House Journalists after the meeting, the TUC President, Festus Osifo, revealed that the TUC met with the federal government team to present their demands on how to resolve the crises arising from the fuel price increase
Osifo recalled that the federal government had given reasons for their position, adding that “ they told us the reason why they did what they did, but on our part, we did not agree with them.
“So they presented some of the things they considered as palliatives to us, that we should consider them in the meeting, but we told them no that we cannot consider them in that meeting, that we’re going back to call our respective organs.
“So we went back, called the NEC of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria on Friday and during the NEC meeting, the NEC of TUC decided that because we already told the government as of Wednesday that we’re taking their demands back, we want to go and look at them because they asked us for our demands, we said we didn’t have the mandate to discuss the mandates as at then.
“So we went back, we called our meetings on Friday, we had extensive deliberations and our NEC now mandated us with some lists of demands, to come and meet with the government side today. So the meeting we just concluded, we have detailed and marshalled out the list of our demands to them.
“They also, in turn, told us that when they presented the items to us on Wednesday, we told them that we were going back to our principals, So, they also need to touch base with Mr President so that we’ll reconvene this meeting again on Tuesday.
“Topmost in our demands was clearly stated, that for utmost good faith and in the interest of social dialogue, they should revert to back the pump price while discussions continue
Speaking on why the NLC was not at the meeting, Osifo noted that the NLC is implementing decisions taken by its organ
“When you call an organ meeting and the organ takes a life of its own, the decision of your organ is what you are expected to implement. All of us here today are agents of NEC of TUC, the NEC of TUC took a decision and that decision is what we’re trying to push through.
“We have presented the list of our demands to them and they received it in good faith that they will go back to their principal and come back to us on Tuesday. So we’re hopeful that the demands that we have presented will be reviewed in the best interest of Nigerian workers and the entire Nigerian masses.
The TUC, also demanded amongst the several issues raised that the federal government must embark on a review of the minimum wage.
“For us, it is quite apt that the minimum wage is reviewed because, as at today, it is not a living wage, as we all know. The value of the minimum wage since it was negotiated, has plummeted to a very abysmal level, as it is today.
“It is quite apt for them to go back, maybe when we meet on Tuesday, we can dissect them one after the other and be much more specific.
“It’s your function as the press to also help us educate Nigerians to make them understand that when you call organ meetings that the decisions of the organs is what the leadership are bound to push through and to implement.”
