By Halimah Olamide
Amidst the recently proposed nationwide strike, the Federal Government and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), have come to an agreement on conditions in order to suspend the strike.
This was disclosed by the chief of staff to the president, Femi Gbajabiamila, who led the federal government team in a press briefing on Sunday.
Recall that NPO Reported that two labour unions , the NLC and TUC had threatened to embark on a nationwide indefinite strike on October 3rd, 2023 to protest the fuel subsidy removal policy of the Federal Government.
Gbajabiamila revealed that the government and members of the organised labour reached agreements which the labour officials will take back to their respective organs for ratification
“A lot of issues were addressed, issues that affect the average Nigerian worker and I am happy to say that after four hours we have reached certain agreements that the benefits of the Nigerian worker, agreements on wage, salary increment, several other things
“We hopefully expect that labour will call a meeting of their various branches and executives tomorrow to present the agreements that have been reached and we pray and believe that the strike will be called off on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the President of NLC, Joe Ajaero highlighted that all that has been agreed on will be taken up with the organs.
“We have looked at almost all the issues, all the promising notes from the government and we looked at how to translate them into reality and to be workable then we are going to take those promises to our organs.
“Like he said, we are hopeful that our organs will look at them and give us a fresh mandate on what next to do.
Also, among the issues discussed was the decision by the federal government to spread the minimum wage increase across all the cadres of federal civil servants as against the earlier announcement by President Bola Tinubu to limit the N25,000 to low-grade workers.
However, Gbajabiamila clarified the statement saying; “There was a lot of chatter on Twitter about the issue of low-income workers only falling into the category of the provisional wage increase.
“We did communicate with the president and he quickly did say and agreed that all categories of workers would be given the wage bill.
‘’There is nothing like low-income, mid-income or high-income. I think it was worthy of clarification tonight.”
On his part, the acting President of TUC, Tommy Etim Okon, stated: “We do hope that by tomorrow, we are going to get across to our organs so we can also look at it and cross-fertilize ideas and know the way forward.”
Minister of Information Mallam Mohammed Idris, in a statement he released, gave details of the agreements reached with the Labour unions. See Details of the statement below:
FULL TEXT OF THE PRESS STATEMENT ON THE MEETING BETWEEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND LEADERSHIP OF THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS (NLC), AND TRADE UNIONS CONGRESS (TUC).
The Federal Government, on Sunday, October 1, 2023 met with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) on measures to address the dispute arising from the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
The parties noted the following:
i) The Federal Government has announced N25,000 only as provisional wage increment for all treasury-paid federal government workers for six months.
ii) The Federal Government is committed to fast-tracking the provision of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses to ease public transportation difficulties associated with the removal of PMS subsidy.
iii) The Federal Government commits to the provision of funds for micro and small-scale enterprises.
iv) VAT on diesel will be waived for the next 6 months.
v) The Federal Government will commence payment of N75,000 to 15 million households at N25,000 per month, for a three-month period from October-December 2023.
RESOLUTIONS:
In light of the discussions held during the meeting, the following resolutions were reached:
i) The issues in dispute can only be resolved when workers are at work and not when they are on strike.
ii) Labour Unions argued for higher wage award and the Federal Government Team promised to present Labour’s request to President Bola Tinubu for further consideration.
iii) A sub-committee to be constituted to work out the details of implementation of all items for consideration regarding government interventions to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.
iv) The lingering matter of Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Lagos State needs to be addressed urgently and Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who participated virtually, pledged to resolve the matter.
v.) NLC and TUC will consider the offers by the Federal Government with a view to suspending the planned strike to allow for further consultations on the implementation of the resolutions above.
Governor Abdulrazak Abdulrahman of Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, participated virtually in the meeting, chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Also in attendance were the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, the Minister of State, Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
The labour delegation was led by NLC President, Joe Ajaero, Dr Tommy Etim Okon, Deputy President, TUC, NLC General Secretary, Emma Ugboaja, TUC General Secretary, Nuhu Toro, among others.
Mallam Mohammed Idris
Minister of Information and National Orientation
October 1, 2023