As the organised labour braces for strike over fuel subsidy removal, the director-general of Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, Kwara State, Comrade Issa Aremu, has harped on the need for a continuous dialogue between the labour and the federal government to resolve the impasse.
Aremu harped on the imperative of policy dialogue and discussions between government and relevant stakeholders on the vexed issue of deregulation.
He expressed optimism that through exchange of facts, negotiations and compromises, both the government and labour would find common ground for the inevitable reform of the petroleum downstream sector which he said the sector unions – namely PENGASSAN and NUPENG have been pushing for years.
He recalled that petroleum products supply and pricing had always been an acid test for successive governments in Nigeria.
The former vice president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), however, observed that,” what makes the current reform different is that there is a national consensus among all stakeholders that prohibitive costs of subsidizing a single product (PMS) in the wake of declining public revenue and other national needs are unsustainable.”
In addition, he said the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) with all its imperfections has rightly unbundled NNPC and legitimised deregulation.
Aremu said, “Neither policy reversal nor mass protest is an option”, but “genuine negotiation and social dialogue would make the deregulation policy a reality without compromising the welfare of the citizens with respect to welfare and secured jobs”. Comrade Aremu commended the initiative of President Bola Tinubu for meeting with labour leaders which according to him pointed to his sensitivity as “not only labour friendly but a leader that is accessible and open to engagement.”
He challenged the labour and civil society to reciprocate the presidential gesture with creative options that would protect the existing public and private jobs through better remuneration to cushion the inflationary pressures and create more decent jobs, adding that President Tinubu had even alluded to a new minimum wage.
He said the current policy contestations and discourse are good for national development adding that what is needed is to “work out win- win options” for the petroleum downstream sector in particular and Nigeria as a whole.
