The Nigerian government and the organised labour have reportedly reached agreement on modalities to cushion the economic hardship in the country.
According to sources to who spoke to Vanguard, the two parties also agreed to continue engagement and discussions to thaw frosty relationship that had existed before now.
A source said: “Government promised to release over 2,000 Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, conversion kits in the first instance. It also promised to release 45 CNG buses to Labour to complete the 90 earlier promised organised labour.
“As part of efforts at crashing transport fares across the country, the Federal Government will hold a meeting with state governors to fully embrace the CNG buses.
This will also affect the cost of foodstuffs as it will reduce the costs of transporting food items from different locations to consumers drastically. These are parts of efforts to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal on the citizens.”
“The government also promised to summon a meeting of the economic council to impress it upon state governors to ensure the new minimum wage takes off across the country this month.
“It also promised to incorporate labour into the economic council, so labour will participate and monitor economic policies of government, instead of government throwing policies at labour and Nigerians that may result in agitation or protest.
“They agreed that it is better to ‘jaw-jaw than war-war’, meaning, there will be continuous dialogue between government and labour.
“The government also promised to hasten and complete the refineries. They said almost five refineries are about to be completed.”
Sources equally said “government promised to pay all outstanding arrears and wage awards to workers and inaugurate all the boards labour has representatives.”
One of the sources said “all these are promises, but the good thing is that it was agreed that the meeting will be a continuous process.”
Another source also said the issue of government not honouring agreement was raised, adding that government admitted that it did not do well in that regard and promised to change.
Asked if labour was satisfied with the meeting, the source said:“It is not about satisfaction but a way forward from the past where government was not discussing with organised labour.
Among government’s representatives at the meeting were Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser, NSA; Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Labour Minister; and Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy.
Others include Alhaji Mohammed Idris, Information Minister; Heineken Lokpobiri, Petroleum Resources Minister, Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), and representatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL.
Also present at the joint meeting were the President of NLC, Mr Joe Ajaero; Deputy President, Kabiru Ado Sani; the General Secretary, Mr Emma Ugboaja; Deputy President of the TUC, Dr. Tommy Etim Okon; the Secretary General, Nuhu Toro; and the President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, who is also a deputy president of NLC.
Addressing Reporters at the end of the meeting, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris said the Federal Government will continue to engage with organized labour and not wait until there was tension on any issue before doing so.
DAILY GIST recalls that the house of representatives had on Wednesday asked the federal government to reverse the recent petrol price hike.
The house also urged the government to take immediate steps to stabilise petrol and cooking gas prices through targeted interventions, such as temporary price relief measures, tax reductions, or subsidies on LPG for low-income households.
