For the second time within a week, the anticipated meeting between organised labour and the federal government to discuss the level of implementation of the 15-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been shifted to next week.
The MoU was signed by both parties on 2nd October 2023 as the last resort and a condition for the organised labour constituting the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) to suspend its planned nationwide strike over hardships faced by Nigerians following the removal of fuel subsidy in May this year.
Part of the agreement was to among other things allow the federal government to implement the MoU within 30 days which elapsed this week.
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Although the government has commenced some implementation of the agreement, including the establishment of seven Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) centres, for gas-fuel vehicles, 210 billion naira provided in the 2023 supplementary budget for the payment of wage awards of N35,000 each to about 1.5 million employees of the federal government.
According to NLC national president, Comrade Joe Ajaero who briefed journalists on Sunday, the new meeting earlier scheduled for Monday but was postponed to yesterday but could not be held, was meant to evaluate the level of the implementation of the MoU.
However, last week the federal government came under fire when the labour centre accused the minister of labour and employment, Simon Lalong of throwing a spanner in the wheel of the ratified agreement by endorsing and legitimised Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede’s – led faction which it said was a sabotage of the ratified agreement and a breached of item 6 of the MoU.
The development has also festered to the level that NLC has vowed to boycott any meeting with the federal government that will have the minister in attendance.
