FG and Labour agree on ways to lower food and transportation costs.
Yesterday, organized labor and the federal government reached an agreement on ways to lower the cost of transportation and the costs of necessities, particularly food.
This occurred on the same day that the House of Representatives called on the federal government to halt the recent increase in the price of gasoline and to act quickly to stabilize the prices of cooking gas and gasoline through targeted interventions, such as short-term price relief measures, tax breaks, or LPG subsidies for low-income households. The government decided to call a meeting with state governors to make sure the N70,000 new minimum wage is completely implemented countrywide in October, following the meeting that was conducted last night at the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation, or SGF.
Among other things, the administration and Labour agreed to continue interaction and conversations to soften the previously icy relationship, according to sources at the meeting who spoke to Vanguard.
In the first case, the government pledged to distribute more than 2,000 compressed natural gas, or CNG, conversion kits. In order to fulfill the 90 organized labor buses that were previously promised, it also pledged to deliver 45 CNG buses to labor.
In an attempt to lower transportation costs nationwide, the federal government will meet with state governors to fully support CNG buses. This will also have an impact on food prices because it will significantly lower the cost of shipping food goods from various areas to customers. These are some of the measures used to lessen the impact of the subsidy.
Additionally, the administration pledged to call an economic council conference to pressure state governors to implement the new minimum wage nationwide this month.
Additionally, it pledged to include labor in the Economic Council, allowing them to engage and keep an eye on government economic policies rather than the government hurling policies at them that could spark unrest or protests.They both agreed that it is better to “jaw-jaw than war-war,” which means that government and labor will continue to communicate. Additionally, the government pledged to expedite and finish the refineries. A source told Vanguard last night that nearly five refineries are set to be finished.
According to the same sources, “the government promised to inaugurate all the boards where labor has representatives and pay all outstanding arrears and wage awards to workers.”
“All of these are promises, but the good thing is that it was agreed that the meeting will be a continuous process,” one of the people stated.
According to a different source, the government acknowledged that it did not perform well in that area and pledged to address the issue of non-compliance.
“It is not about satisfaction but a way forward from the past where government was not discussing with organized labor,” the source said when asked if labor was happy with the meeting.There is a good chance that disputes between the government and labor will decrease if this pattern or practice persists.
According to him, the purpose of the joint National Executive Council (NEC) meeting between the two labor centers—the TUC and the NLC—was to inform members of the progress of the meeting with the administration.
Remember that the government’s delegates in the conference included Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy; Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Advisor, NSA; and Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Minister of Labor.
Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of Petroleum Resources; Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas); Alhaji Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information; and officials from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, or NNPCL, are among the others. NLC President Joe Ajaero, Deputy President Kabiru Ado Sani, General Secretary Emma Ugboaja, Deputy President of the TUC Dr. Tommy Etim Okon, Secretary General Nuhu Toro, and President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, who is also a deputy president of NLC, were also in attendance at the joint meeting.
There will be ongoing labor participation — FG
At the conclusion of the meeting, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, told reporters that the Federal Government will not wait for tension on any topic before interacting with organized labor.The minister responded, “These are just general discussions,” when asked if the meeting with the laborers had anything to do with the minimum wage. The government constantly wants to interact with Labour, and this is one of those occasions.We’ll keep communicating with them. We won’t engage Labour until there is conflict over anything.
Asked if the meeting had to do with the recent hike in fuel price, he said: “This is our continuous engagement with labour for the good of the country. You know that labour is an important component of this country, all of them are our brothers and sisters.
’Government is there for everyone, including labour, so we will continue to engage labour for the good of the country.”
Reps ask FG to reverse petrol pump price hike, cooking gas price
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has asked the Federal Government to reverse the recent petrol price hike and take immediate steps to stabilise petrol and cooking gas prices through targeted interventions, such as temporary price relief measures, tax reductions, or subsidies on LPG for low-income households.
As a temporary solution to lessen reliance on imported refined petroleum products, it also urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and other pertinent organizations to accelerate the maintenance and repair of domestic refineries and expand local refining capacity.
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