The meeting between the Federal Government representatives and Organised Labour meant to address the announcement of new petroleum prices at the Presidential villa ended in deadlock.
While the spokesperson on government side and a director in the defunct Tinubu- Shetimma Campaign Organization, Dele Alake said there was a robust discussion with everyone speaking with one voice as regards the impact of the new price regime of petroleum products on the Nigerian, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Joe Ajaero and his Trade Union Congress (TUC), counterpart, Festus Osifo, insisted that no consensus was reached and that government must return to statuque and continue with the dialogue.
Organised Labour said the meeting will reconvene after they have briefed their bosses (workers) at a yet to be determined time.
Alake said: “We have been deliberating on finding very amicable resolutions to the issue at hand, to the queue and all of that and the increase in pump price.
“We had a very robust engagement. We cross-fertilized ideas, ideas flew from all sides and there is one thing that is remarkable even from the Labour side, and that is Nigeria. We are all looking at the peace, progress and stability of Nigeria. That is what is paramount.
“Of course the NNPCL GCEO, Mr Kyari, is here, we cannot go into details now because the talks are still ongoing. We cannot finish everything at one setting, so we have adjourned now, we are continuing the talks at a later date very shortly. But the point is that the talks are ongoing and it’s always better for all sides to keep talking with a view to arriving at a very amicable resolution that will be in the longer term interest for all Nigerians. That is as much as we can say now.”
Ajaero, said “As far as labour is concerned, we didn’t have a consensus in this meeting.”
He faulted the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited over an official release published hours earlier reviewing the petrol pump price in its filling stations nationwide.
He said the price increase puts the labour unions in a difficult position on the negational table.
“That’s the principle of negotiation. You don’t put the partner, ask them to negotiate under gunpoint.
“The prayers of the NLC is that we go back to statusquo, negotiate, think of alternatives and all the effects and how to manage the effects this action is going to have on the people. If it is an action that must take off.
“The subsidy provision has been made up to the end of June. And before then, conscious people, labour management, government should be able to think of what will happen at the end of June. You don’t start it before the time,” Ajaero said.
The President of TUC said the unions will go and consult with their members before deciding on the next meeting with government.
Osifo said: “If you listen to the president during the inauguration at eagles square, he said one of the hallmark of this administration is going to be dialogue, is going to be consultation, that they are not going to lord it over us. I trying to paraphrase what he said, that he is not going to be a dictator. And what has happened in terms of day has not shown what was written in his address.
“So, all we said before now was that we ought to have sat down, have this conversation before anything could have happened.
We have been open to conversations, we started it in 2020 upto 2021, upto part of 2022. But at the end of the day, they told us that they were not removing subsidy.
“So, there was no conversation whatsoever, so for over a year, there wasn’t formal engagements and formal meetings. Abs because there wasn’t formal engagements and formal meetings that why we found ourselves in this. If we have met before now, we would have proposed a lot of things. We have experts in our midsts who could have proffered some solutions, even the CNG how it could have been done faster. Because our own is, how do we protect the Nigerian people and the workforce.
“So, it’s not about grandstanding but it’s about how do we protect the workforce. Clearly, we have stated in our meeting today let statuesque ante remains, while we go back and have conversations with our principal, because the workers are our principal then we will reconvene for for their discussion. But we hope that they will revert to statuesque ante.”
The representatives of government consisted of Head of Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan, Group Chief Executive Officer, of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele; the Permanent Secretary, State House, Tijjani Umar, and former governor of Edo State, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Kachallon Daju; and one time president of NLC, Adams Oshiomhole, among others.
The meeting held at the Conference Hall, of the Chief of Staff to the President.
President had on Tuesday, met behind closed doors with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Mele Kyari and Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive of Nigerian Mainstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority, (NMDPRA), over the reemergence of long fuel queues, following government’s decision to end fuel subsidy.
Kyari, while speaking with State House Journalists after the meeting, revealed that the Federal government is owing the organization N2.8t, being money expended on fuel subsidy, by the NNPCL.
President Tinubu had in his inaugural address, noted that “ subsidy is gone” adding that money gained would be deployed to address crucial social issues such as health and education.
It was observed however, that the decision may not have gone down well with members of the organised Labour, who fear that such move will create more hardships for the already overstressed Nigerians.
This is further worsened by the sharp increase in the pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit ( PMS) also known as fuel, as prices are saud to have hit as high as N600 per liter in parts of the country.
The situation is said to be worse in the South East, where it is reported that the fuel price has hit as high as N1200 per liter.
But Vice President Kashim Shettima, while also speaking with State House Journalists on Tuesday, described subsidy as a huge burden placed on the masses, which President Tinubu is committed to remove.
“The truth of the matter is that it is either we get rid of subsidy or the fuel subsidy gets rid of the Nigerian nation. In 2022, we spent $10billion subsidizing the ostentatious lifestyle of the upper class of the society because you and I benefit 90% from the oil subsidy. The poor 40% of Nigerians benefit very little,” Shettima said.
“ We know the consequences of unveiling a masquerade. We will get fierce opposition from those benefitting from the oil subsidy scam. But where there is a will, there is a way.
“Be rest assured that our President is a man of strong will and conviction. In the fullness of time you will appreciate his noble intentions for the nation. The issue of fuel subsidy will be frontally addressed. The earlier we do so, the better.”
But the TUC, later rejected the removal of fuel subsidy in a statement by its President and Secretary General, Festus Osifo and Nuhu Toro, respectively, warning that “it is a joke taken too far”.
They argued that the move will lead to an “increase in pump price and the exploitation of the people by unregulated and exploitative deregulated prices, then it’s a joke taken too far”
The Union held that the subsidy removal is a delicate issue that requires “robust dialogue and consultation with the representatives of the working people, including professionals, market people, students, and the poor masses”.
“We hereby demand that President Tinubu should tarry awhile to give room for robust dialogue and consultation and stakeholders engagement, just as he opined in his speech until all issues and questions – and there are a host of them! – to ensure that they are amicably considered and resolved. Nigerian Workers and indeed masses must not be made to suffer the inefficiency of successive governments.”
Credit: The Nigeria Lawyers