Subsidy: Labour, FG Meeting Continues, Tinubu Pleads for More Time

•Speaker to meet resident doctors, others today 

•NLC insists on August 2 protests despite meeting with govt’s negotiation team 

•Declares the poor already missing Buhari

•Faults attempts to criminalise Emefiele’s dual exchange rate policy 

•Olu Verheije explains delay in rolling out interventions

•NECA advises govt to commence talks on minimum wage

•Says industrial action not best action for now

Deji Elumoye, Onyebuchi Ezigbo, Juliet Akoje in Abuja, Dike Onwuamaeze and Ugo Aliogo in Lagos

As the federal government and members of the organised labour continued their dialogue as they seek measures and policies to cushion the effects of the petrol subsidy removal on workers, President Bola Tinubu, yesterday, made a passionate plea to the organised labour centres to give him more time to look into their grievances, rather than embark on a planned nationwide protest.

The president stressed that he is relatively new in office.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, conveyed Tinubu’s appeal while addressing newsmen at State House, Abuja. Abbas led House principal officers to brief the president on the outcome of their engagement with the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which had declared a nationwide strike.

However, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) commenced mobilisation of its affiliates, state councils, and civil society organisations (CSOs) to hold mass protest rallies across the country from August 2, in protest against what it described as the hardship imposed on workers and the masses by the removal of fuel subsidy and other anti-poor policies of the Tinubu government.

 Head of Information and Public Affairs, NLC, Benson Upah, who was a guest on ‘The Prime Time’ a programme monitored on ARISE NEWS Channel, said Nigerian workers were already missing former President Muhammadu Buhari, and were concerned the dual exchange rate by the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was being criminalised, when in fact any sane CBN Governor should protect the poor like Emefiele did.

Upah, also said at the time Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy during his inaugural speech, the policy was expected to run till the end of June, so he was breaching the appropriation act without recourse to the National Assembly. and a few days after that, the pump price in Nigeria was raised.

 Upah mentioned that the NLC was going to go on a protest after the subsidy had been removed and pump prices had risen. Nigerians were outraged and waiting for the protest, but the government reached out to the NLC.

“We had two meetings, and while the second meeting was held, the government acted in bad faith by procuring a restraining order from the court to stop the protest while it lured the NLC to the villa for negotiations.”

For the benefit of Nigerians, we had to listen to the government and their promise to meet the demands of the NLC, which they breached.

The Head of Information and Public Affairs, Nigeria Labour Congress, further said that no reasonable government leaves its national currency to the forces of the market because if you do, there will be unintended consequences, and causing the naira to float began with increasing Nigeria’s debt stock from 72 trillion naira to 81 trillion naira. He said any reasonable CBN governor must be able to manage their currency and not leave it to the forces of the market, and to that end, he gives credit to the Buhari administration and Emefiele as CBN governor.

Upah concluded by saying Tinubu is a new president who had one month to consult with critical stakeholders but instead took major decisions on a whim without any consultations with a cabinet.

He further made it clear to Nigerians that the NLC decided not to protest the first time, not because they are friends with the presidency but because the government spoke to them in good faith but they ended up not holding their end of the bargain.

He called the Tinubu administration an autocratic government for acting in defiance of their written and signed promises.

Relatedly, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Assembly (NECA) called on the federal government to commence talks with organised labour on a new national minimum wage to forestall an industrial action.

Tinubu, according to Abbas, stressed that he was new in office and would require some time to evaluate the issues being raised by workers.

Abbas said, “What he said is that he’s just coming on board. We should ask them and beg them to, please, give him a little more time. The things that they mentioned, he is completely unaware of them, he is yet to be briefed about all those issues.

“But from what he heard from me, he also advised that we should channel some of those issues to the Chief of Staff to look at them one after the other.

“I believe the next coming days, some concerted actions will be taken.”

The speaker explained that the House leadership invited the resident doctors following their intention to go on strike, saying the legislators succeeded in persuading them to shelve the plan.

He said, “Sequel to the meeting we had with them, there were series of conditions that they gave, that we felt we need to share with the president.”

Abbas maintained that the purpose of the visit to State House was to notify the president of the progress made with the doctors’ association. He said the new House leadership also used the visit to familiarise themselves with NARD.

On what the House was doing to halt the August 2 protest by organised labour, Abbas said, “In the same manner, same way, we will also invite them to come and sit so that we hear their grievances and then we follow the same pattern of engaging and persuading them to give us a little time so that we can meet their expectations.”

Abbas also clarified his two visits to State House in 24 hours, saying, “Yesterday’s visit was primarily to brief Mr. President on our engagement with the national residents’ doctors association, whom we got wind of, were planning to embark on strike.

“So, we invited them and we persuaded them to withdraw that plan. Sequel to the meetings we had with them, there were series of conditions that they gave that we felt that we needed to share with Mr. President. And that is what brought me yesterday, to intimate him on what we have discussed and the agreements so far reached with them and issues that they have raised that need his attention.

“And today’s visit, as you can see, we are together, the whole leadership of the House is here. Since our election as leaders of 10th House of Representatives, we didn’t come formally to present them to Mr. President.

“So, today, we requested for this audience primarily to bring and introduce them for him to get to know them and for them to get to know him. That’s just what we are here for.”

Asked what the next step would be since the House intervention had not stopped the doctors from declaring industrial action, he said, “Well, it’s a work in progress. I’m sure some of the issues that they have raised, if we can meet some of their expectations halfway, of which we are on it, we already set up an ad hoc committee chaired by the Majority Leader of the House to look at those issues.

“I’m sure one or two interventions in their areas of concern, we will prevail on them to come back to the negotiating table and also accept to withdraw that strike.”

Abbas would today again meet with relevant stakeholders over the differences between the federal government and NARD.

Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Speaker, Mr. Musa Abdullahi Krishi, and Majority Leader of the House, Professor Julius Ihonvbere, made this known at the plenary, which Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, presided.

The meeting at State House came after the speaker met with Tinubu, in fulfilment of his promise to NARD earlier on Monday, as part of efforts to resolve the crisis.

At the plenary, the leadership of the House expressed displeasure with NARD’s decision to continue with its planned strike, despite the intervention of the legislature.

A member of the House, Hon. Unyime Idem, during the plenary, attempted to move a motion of urgent public importance on the strike declared by NARD on Tuesday night. The immediate past Deputy Speaker, Hon. Ahmed Wase, however, raised a point of order to note that the speaker was already working on the matter.

The majority leader noted that the lower chamber’s interventions would continue, despite that the resident doctors’ decision to downed tools.

In the meantime, President of NLC, Mr Joe Ajaero, insisted that the August 2 nationwide protest by labour unions would go ahead if nothing was done to ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians brought about by increase in the price of petrol.

Speaking to State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting with federal government’s Steering Committee on Palliatives, led by Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, Ajaero said, “The outcome is very brief. We met based on N520 increase and the committee that was set up based on that and we agreed to work to realise the objective that was set during the last moment.”

Asked about organised labour’s position on the palliatives yet to be provided, the NLC leader said, “The two centres have made their position known and it is before Nigerians, the TUC, the NLC, our position is known. And its public knowledge.”

Asked if labour was going ahead with the August 2 planned protests if the federal government did not reverse its anti-labour policies, Ajaero said, “We are going ahead with the protest because we have to be emphatic on what we put in our communique, to say we’re commencing protests from the 2nd.”

On whether NLC’s tone meant organised labour was not satisfied with the outcome of yesterday’s meeting, Ajaero said, “This meeting has no relationship with the protest and I want you to be careful about it. There is N520 increment, which gave birth to this meeting. Nobody is discussing about N617 as at now and this meeting didn’t have the competence to address that.”

Speaking on the outcome of the meeting, also, President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr. Festus Osifo, said, “Okay, we’ve had a meeting and the meeting majorly is to listen to the presentations that are coming from the secretariat of the steering committee, so they have made presentations to us. We made our robust inputs into it.

“Some of the things they presented, we did not agree with them. So the areas we did not agree, we also made our inputs known because when you come to such meeting it is for government or its representatives to do a presentation. But it’s left for us to either agree or disagree.

“So during the meeting, we gave them sufficient feedback. And they also agreed to go and look at those feedbacks and get back to us on Friday.”

However, Ajaero did not mention the areas of disagreement with government.

He said, “We are still discussing, I don’t think it is quite good for us to be discussing those particular subjects now, more so because they told us that they will come back to us by Friday and Friday is about 48 hours away.

“So it is better we hold on; we wait till Friday for them to give us a feedback then we can go into the nitty gritty.”

On what labour really wanted from government, Osifo said, “What we want government to do is to address the plight of Nigerians. Nigerians are suffering, just as we said in our press conference few days ago, that Nigerians are suffering, that things are hard, that things are difficult, because things are difficult today in Nigeria, you must roll up programmes that will ameliorate the suffering, because at the end of the day, it is about Nigerians, because government exists in order to take care of the downtrodden, majorly.

“So all we are saying is that government must as a matter of urgency, because we don’t have that time anymore. So as a matter of urgency they must roll out various programmes that will create alternative to PMS, and also palliatives.

“So these are the two focus, alternative to PMS, that is about the CNG and also the palliatives that must be brought out to ameliorate these sufferings Nigerians are passing through.”

Regarding the timelines, he said, “We are meeting again on Friday. So, when we meet on Friday, we will hear from them, they can tell us that by Monday morning, they will start rolling them out here so we meet on Friday.”

Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, who spoke on behalf of the federal government, said progress had been made in the discussion.

According to her, “We’ve agreed to continue to make progress. It was a very productive meeting. The focus was really around how we fast-track a lot of the interventions that will bring relief, particularly around CNG, mass transportation, cleaner energy, transportation, and reduce the impact of the cost of transportation, the increased cost of transportation.

“So we’ve made good progress. And we’re going to continue to do so and so that we can start rolling out these opportunities and this relief and measures as quickly as possible.”

On why government seemed to be foot dragging on the rollout of the palliatives, Verheijen said, “We have to get it right. It’s important that we do this well, and we keep our promises. So, it’s important that whatever is announced actually gets done. Because we don’t want to make big announcements that will continue to lose people’s trust.

“It’s important that we build trust, and that most of the announcements and the plans that we roll out are credible and impactful.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is working assiduously to address all of these issues. And as quickly as he can. He’s very empathetic, he is concerned about it, as you’ve seen all of us working round the clock here to make sure that we are able to announce these measures as quickly as possible. It’s a whole package of issues that we’re rolling out as quickly as possible.”

NLC Mobilises Workers, CSOs for Nationwide Strike 

Earlier yesterday, NLC at the end of its Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Abuja, announced the commencement of mobilisation of all its affiliates, state councils and civil society organisations (CSOs) to hold mass protest rallies across the country beginning from next Wednesday. It said it was in protest against the hardship imposed on workers and the masses by the removal of fuel subsidy and other anti-poor government policies.

NLC said the planned nationwide protest would be to compel government to reverse its harsh policies, including the hike in the pump price of petrol.

The labour movement accused the federal government of abandoning its own committee, which was a product of dialogue between the government and workers organisations.

Rising from the meeting, the labour movement gave the federal government a seven-day ultimatum to reverse its decision on fuel price hike and other anti-poor and anti-workers’ policies or it would embark on a nationwide strike.

The communiqué jointly signed by NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, stated, “The NLC has resolved to give the federal government a seven-day ultimatum within which to meet all our demands and to embark on a nation-wide action beginning Wednesday, the 2nd of August, 2023 to compel the government to reverse its anti-poor and anti-workers policies.

“To consequently direct all affiliates and state councils to begin immediate mobilisation and closely work with associations, individuals and other entities, including the ones already on the streets, to ensure that government listens to the people.”

In the communiqué, NLC argued that the federal government had shown enormous disdain and contempt for the Nigerian people and workers, having acted and continued to act without regard to the welfare and cries of the citizenry.

NLC also accused the government of declaring a war of attrition on Nigerian workers and masses without any care, thereby, “leaving them to the throes of hopelessness and helplessness.”

The labour union said since the president’s “subsidy is gone forever, ‘Fuel Subsidy is Gone,’ speech on inauguration day on May 29, 2023, the peace of mind of Nigerians has gone.”

It said, “Government has continued to treat Nigerians as slaves and a conquered people, which it treats with impunity without any concern on the consequences.”

In addition, the NLC accused the federal government of refusing to put in place safeguards to protect Nigerians from the harsh economic situation that its policies had inflicted on the people.

It said the government decided to insult the sensibilities of Nigerian masses, “by offering us N8, 000 per family and offering themselves N70 billion.”

In the communiqué, NLC demanded an immediate reversal of all anti-poor policies of the federal government, including the recent hike in petrol price, increase in public school fees, the release of the eight months withheld salaries of university lecturers and workers, and the increase in VAT.

It also demanded the immediate inauguration of the Presidential Steering Committee as agreed in the earlier consequential dialogues.

The labour congress urged all civil society organisations and Nigerians wherever they might be to begin mobilisation to take action on their own to save the country.

It said the CSOs should be prepared to lead and organise mass protest rallies across the country to demonstrate outrage against the inhuman actions and policies of the government.

NLC stated in the communique, “That the federal government has continued to promote the gang up of the ruling elite against Nigerian people and workers. Observes that the federal government has continued to churn out without relenting policies designed to emasculate Nigerian workers and people via not just increases in PMS prices with its spiralling affect but also increases in VAT, increases in school fees across all publicly owned secondary and tertiary institutions of learning.

“That the NNPCL has turned itself into the forces of demand and supply and fixes the price of petroleum products while mouthing deregulation. That government’s conduct suggests it does not intend to commit itself to the MoU it signed with NLC and TUC.”

But reacting, while speaking to journalists yesterday, on the side-lines of the Registrar of Trade Unions Workshop on challenges facing trade union administration in the country, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Kachollum Daju, said, “I think for now, I will just say that federal government has been doing its best dialoguing with labour unions and stakeholders to resolve the issues and this dialogue will continue.”

On the nationwide strike embarked upon by National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), the permanent secretary said it was rather unfortunate that the doctors did not exercise patience for the new government to settle down and address their grievances.

She said the ministry had taken their case to the highest level and the federal government had assured that the demands will be looked into.

Daju stated, “It’s rather unfortunate that NARD is on strike because we have been having consultations on the demands they raised and we have met quite a number of times and government has assured them that the issues raised are being looked into.

“We all know is that in transition, there is a process and until the process is completed, there is nothing we can do but, unfortunately, they decided to go on strike.”

NECA Advises FG to Commence talks on Minimum Wage

NECA called on the federal government to commence talks with NLC on a new national minimum wage in order to forestall any industrial action, saying strike is not in the best interest of the country at this time.

NECA stated, “In line with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 131 on Minimum Wage Fixing, the tripartite discussions on national minimum wage negotiation should commence immediately.”

It added, “While we understand the genuine concerns of labour, a strike action at a time when the economy and businesses are barely struggling is not in the best interests of all and sundry. It will, also, not bring about any positive resolution.

“Conversely, we expect the government, as a matter of urgency, to be more transparent, communicate more and resume talks with labour in order to build consensus. We also expect that definitive conclusions should be reached and clear roadmaps communicated to stakeholders.”

NECA observed that the removal of fuel subsidy had heaped intolerable levels of hardship on Nigerian workers and households, with businesses also feeling the heat.

It said, “We have witnessed an astronomical increase in the cost of living, with no relief in sight. Rising inflation has further exacerbated our woes. Certainly, the agitation of organised labour under the aegis of the NLC is expected.

“We, indeed, express our empathy to all Nigerians who have been affected by the current policy thrusts of government, which are yet to yield the expected results. Indeed, there are reports of business closures and many others forced to reduce capacity utilisation.”

NECA also said it would continue to champion social dialogue as the principal means of resolving industrial dispute, while also urging stakeholders, including government to demonstrate responsibility and good faith in engagements with stakeholders, given the country’s fragile economic circumstances.