The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), says it is unacceptable, the sudden removal of subsidy on petrol by the Nigerian government and urged the government to revert to status quo.
Before the removal was announced by Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu during his inaugural address on the 29th of May 2023, a liter of petrol was selling for 185 naira at filling stations and jumped to 500 naira per liter, after the announcement.
Addressing Journalists in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital after its emergency National Excutive Council NEC meeting on Friday, TUC President, Mr Festus Osifo said that “Congress is unhappy with the unilateral decision of the fuel subsidy removal by the government.”
“Our expectations was that they should have engaged the representative of the people which is the organised labour but it was done unilaterally.
Having noted this, we wish to state as follows, that NEC in session resolves that discussions with federal government should continue while we demand that government should revert back to status quo,” he said.
“We told them that the lists of the things we want to put forward, we told them that will not submit them now but put them forward to our organs, to discuss and seek mandate from them of the things we can put forward,” he said.
The meeting with the government representatives according to him, necessitated the meeting of Friday.
“So we have had a conversation and the NEC has mandated us to go back to that meeting and put our demand forward to the government.
“How government now reacts to our demand will now necessitate the next line of action so will wait till Sunday when we will meet with representatives of government will demand our next line of action,” Osifo said.
The Nigeria Labour Congress NLC same day also held an emergency NEC meeting where it directed all its Chapters and affiliate unions to observe a nation wide protest, if government does not rescind its position by Wednesday, seventh June 2023.
Lateefah Ibrahim
