The Nigerian government has appealed to organized labour not to go ahead with their strike scheduled for Wednesday.
The Union planned to protest the policies of the present administration in the country.
Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila made the appeal on Tuesday in Abuja after the meeting of the Presidential Steering Committee on Palliatives.
Gbajabiamila said that the government made it clear to labour that President Bola Tinubu’s interventions as contained in his broadcast on Monday were in the initial rollout of what the government planned to do to cushion the effect of his policies on Nigerians.
He said the government found listening ears among labour leaders and expressed hope that labour would not go ahead with the strike.
President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, said that the government team restated what President Tinubu said in his nationwide broadcast on Monday.
“Again the government team told us that what the president has put on the table is more or less a starting point, a baseline.
“We on our part also said yes, we would have been surprised if that is everything that would be put forward because for us we felt that there were some gaps; for us we felt that if the president had said that N1trillion has been saved in the last two months that what has been proposed is not far-reaching.
“For us, as part of the principles of negotiation when anything is put on the table, you accept but you push for more. On our part, we said that what has been put on the table is not sufficient; is not enough, and that they can do more.
“Part of what we put forward is that we look at some of those things that the president highlighted and some of the things they have also mentioned.
“We think, for example, that 3, 000 buses are not sufficient. By the time you divide 3,000 by 37 you would see how many they will come up to.
“So, it is not sufficient; it is grossly inadequate. We also think as well that some measures put on the table are not far-reaching.
“So, we are also going to demand what we think will do. So, if we think 30, 000 buses, 40,000 buses will do it in the immediate, yes, we push it forward.
“So, those were all the conversations that we have had.
“They appealed that we should shelve the protest. We responded that we are going to go back this evening and also have a conversation around that and you will hear from us at the end of that conversation.”
Wage award
Osifo said that labour’s demand is for a wage award since negotiation for minimum wage has not even started.
“On our part, we are demanding wage award. You have heard some states that are saying that they would pay N40,000 minimum.
“ It is more or less they are giving it. It’s not the law. They are doing above the minimum wage.
“For us, we felt that the federal government could on their own do more than the minimum wage without much conversation because the committee on the minimum wage has not been constituted.
“We must be clear on that; that committee has not been constituted. But what we have been advocating on the part of labour is wage award that doesn’t have much bureaucracy.”
Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Titus Amba, corroborated what Osifo said.
He said all organs of the NLC would consider the outcome of the meeting and inform Nigerians of their next line of action.
Olusola Akintonde
