Following what the labour unions labelled as the “failure” of the government to successfully implement policies to allay Nigerians’ sufferings as a result of the removal of the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, The PUNCH reported that the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress have decided to halt operations nationwide as of October 3, 2023.
According to the report, this decision was reached on Tuesday, during a virtual meeting of the National Executive Council held on Zoom, Joe Ajaero, the national president of the NLC, informed the members of the NEC that a meeting had been held with TUC officials to discuss next steps. Ajaero stated that it was decided that the two centres should collaborate in order to communicate their position to the government.
A source who was present at the meeting noted that some members of the NLC initially objected to the development of the NLC working together with the TUC.
“Initially some members did not want us to work with the TUC but as of now, we don’t have a choice. The government has not been proactive. So it is going to be a definite action this time around.”
The 21-day ultimatum given by the NLC ended last week. The national president of the NLC, Joe Ajaero had complained that “none of the demands put before the Federal Government had been addressed.”
The union first observed a two-day nationwide warning strike on September 5 and 6 to show its readiness for the indefinite strike later in the month.
On June 19, President Bola Tinubu established the Presidential Steering Committee and many subcommittees to study the framework that would be used for the adoption of palliatives.
The eight-week window provided for the process’ completion lapsed in August without any progress being done, despite the FG’s pledge to reorganise the framework for dialogue with organised Labour on palliatives.
The committees were given eight weeks to complete their task and hasten the implementation of the framework to mitigate the effects of the removal of the petroleum subsidy on Nigerians. However, weeks after the allotted time had passed, the subcommittees still hadn’t met or carried out their assigned tasks, frustrating the NLC and TUC leadership.
