The Federal Government has said it will roll out more palliatives to cushion the effect of the subsidy removal, saying the items captured in the nationwide broadcast by President Bola Tinubu were not exhaustive.
This much was disclosed by Femi Gbajabiamila the President’s Chief of Staff after the meeting with the labour leaders on Tuesday.
The President on Monday unveiled the plan to address the hardship caused by the removal of fuel subsidy and the arbitrage in the foreign exchange.
He said N500 billion would be shared to farmers, MSMEs and nano business owners as part of the efforts to cushion the effect of the removal of subsidies.
The Labour has described the intervention as laughably inadequate but the federal government has revealed that it is just the beginning of the plan to address the hardship faced by Nigerians.
Gbajabiamila said: “Basically, we laid out a plan for the intervention of Mr President. As you all heard in his broadcast yesterday (Monday), we made it clear that this is just Mr President’s initial rollout of the interventions. These conversations will be ongoing.”
“We appealed to labour on the protest of tomorrow. We found listening ears here and they did agree that they all accepted that Mr President’s broadcast was a welcome development and that they’ll go back home to talk to the other leaders that are not present here today. So, we’re hopeful that they’ll arrive at a good deal and call off the strike tomorrow,” he explained.
The NLC delegation was led by its General Secretary, Emma Ugbaja, and the TUC by its President, Osifo.
The FG’s representatives included Gbajabiamila; the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Kachollom Daju; the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen; the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, among others.
Meanwhile, the NLC has criticised Tinubu’s declaration in his broadcast that the review of the minimum wage was imminent.
The congress in a statement on Monday night noted that it was open knowledge that the review of minimum wage would commence in 2024 as stipulated by law.
It stated that the Tinubu administration had failed to show cooperation and dialogue with members of the organised labour.
The statement signed by the NLC president read partly, “Labour is disturbed that while President Tinubu in his speech lavishly praised the private sector for quickly dispensing wage award to their employees, the Federal Government has failed to do the same for public workers in its employment. This is a clear case of failing woefully to live up to the standards it has set for others to meet.
“It is open knowledge that the review of the national minimum wage is a matter of the law which is expected to happen in 2024. How would Nigerian workers cope with the current reality of hyperinflation and suffering unleashed by the hasty removal of the so-called petrol subsidy till 2024 when the national minimum wage would be reviewed? This is incredible!”
Speaking further on the negotiations so far, Ajaero said, “Organised Labour has been forced to negotiate with empty chairs on the Federal Government’s side as the Federal Government has not matched its public promises with firm commitment to negotiate in good faith with labour. As a matter of fact, the sub-committee on wage award has not been inaugurated and has not met.”
