The federal government and the organised labour have agreed to sort out issues on the implementation of the resolutions reached on fuel subsidy removal within the next eight weeks.
The government and labour, comprising the Nigeria nLabour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had adjourned meeting two weeks ago after jointly drawing up seven resolutions and three agreements to be perfected for the welfare of workers and other Nigerians.
President Bola Tinubu, during his inauguration on May 29, had re-echoed government’s decision to remove fuel subsidy, sparking panics with fuel marketers and consumers, and prompted the organised Labour’s threat to go on strike, alleging that the government did not put in place the measures to cushion the effect of the subsidy removal.
To avert the strike, the federal government quickly convened a meeting with labour where demands that will serve as palliatives were made and the two parties agreed to meet again on June 19.
However, at the resumed meeting on Monday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the two parties, among other things, set up a Presidential Steering Committee to serve as a clearing house in coordinating the technical sub-committees on different items raised.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, the President of the TUC, Festus Osifo flanked by his NLC counterpart, Joe Ajaero said that the parties will reconvene Monday next week to review the framework marshalled out.
He said, “We have concluded our meeting, if you remember very well the last time that we were here that labour, TUC, NLC met with government about two weeks ago, we agreed that we are going to reconvene today, that is the 19th of June, we just reconvened , we had a meeting although brief.
“The purpose of the meeting today is actually to put together the framework, what we submitted as our demand, how will they be delivered and so we are looking at those framework, government came with what they think will work, we also made some input. From this night, we are going to continue the work in order to have that framework together.
“We agreed that anything we are putting together we are going to conclude everything in eight weeks. Everything must be rolled out within that time not something that we are going to leave endlessly. They have submitted the framework to us, we have looked at it, we have made input to, this night we will continuously work on it in order for us to come up with the deliverables.
“If you look at the communique that was signed in our last meeting, there are some action items in the communique. So it’s actually how will these action items will be delivered. For example, we need to have a Presidential Steering Committee that will have to oversee everything.
“We also need to have Technical sub-committees because if we talk about the issue of CNG, we need experts, the issue of CNG you need those people that are willing to invest, the issue of CNG, you need the national oil company, the NNPCL to come up what they need to do and the time with which they are going to deliver.
“There are some technicalities that are required beyond this meeting, so those technical committees will be subsumed into Presidential committees but all these we must conclude everything maximum in eight weeks. So those technical committees, some will submit their reports in one week, when they submit in one week, we implement, when they submit in two weeks we will implement but the last should not exceed eight weeks .
“The terms of reference of these committees are going to be agreed on between today and tomorrow. We are looking at five broad technical committees that will be subsumed into Presidential Steering Committee. There must be timelines in these terms of reference but maximum should not exceed eight weeks. By next week Monday, we will be here again, same time.”
Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communication and Strategies, Dele Alake, said that the meeting considered the short term, medium term and long term measures in resolving the issue with government.
He said, “We reconvened today, both parties went through this list and we tipped off the viable ones, those things are broken into three categories. The immediate, those that can be of low hanging fruit in the short term, the medium term and the long term.
Present at the meeting are the delegation of the NLC, led by its President,Joe Ajaero, the delegation of the TUC led by its President, Festus Osifo, the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, Special Adviser for Revenue, Zachaeus Adedeji and the Special Adviser for Energy, Olu Verheijen and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Kachallom Daju.
Others are the group chief executive officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited NNPCL, Mele Kyari, the chief executive officer of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, the CEO of Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed among others.
Meanwhile, the National Industrial Court maintained yesterday that its order restraining the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) from embarking on their planned industrial action in protest of subsidy removal subsists.
The judge, Justice Olufunke Anuwe stated that the order, as granted on June 5, 2023, subsists pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
Accordingly, the court ordered that parties maintain the status quo and adjourned the matter till July 20, for a hearing.
When the case was called, the federal government’s counsel, Ochum Emmanuel, informed the court that the matter was slated for Monday for the claimant (FG) to take its motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction to restrain the defendants from embarking on strike.
He added that he was ready to proceed with his application as the defendants had been served.
The defendants’ counsel, Marshall Abubakar, however, said they had filed an application praying the court to set aside its order granted on June 5 restraining his clients from embarking on strike.
Abubakar further submitted that the claimant was served the application on June 8, only for them to turn around and serve on them a counter-affidavit in court yesterday.
He added that the claimant filed the counter-affidavit on June 16 and instructed the bailiff not to serve them until Monday in court. The court enquired if the defence was properly served before the court, Abubakar responded that he was not certain, but that he will find out and do the needful.
He also prayed for a short adjournment to look at the counter-affidavit and respond.
Emmanuel, in response, opposed Abubakar’s application for adjournment and urged the court to allow him to take his motion on notice which was slated for hearing.
The counsel also reiterated that the federal government will never file a process and instruct any bailiff not to serve the other party.
He argued that it was probably because he filed the processes late on June 16 that made the bailiff serve defence counsel in court on Monday.
The court in its ruling granted the application for adjournment, directed the defendants to enter their memorandum of appearance and instructed parties to maintain the status quo.
It was gathered that the defendants had planned to embark on a nationwide strike on June 7 to protest the fuel subsidy removal that brought about the new pump price for the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
The federal government had, therefore, instituted the suit to stop the defendants, stating that the proposed strike may gravely affect the larger society and the well-being of the nation at large.
Dangote, Gates Laud Subsidy Removal
Meanwhile, the co-founder of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr Bill Gates, and president of Aliko Dangote Foundation, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, yesterday applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for reming fuel subsidy.
They spoke at the presidential villa when they met with Tinubu, who pledged to give priority to the health and safety of Nigerians.
Tinubu told them that for any country to develop, the health of its people, particularly the workforce, is critical.
Addressing journalists after meeting with the president, Dangote, congratulated Tinubu on his election and successful assumption of office.
He said the visit to the villa was to brief the president on the activities of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Aliko Dangote Foundation, highlighting their commitment to improving the health sector in Nigeria.
Dangote expressed the foundations’ willingness to cooperate further with the government in achieving its goals.
He commended the president for the removal of fuel subsidy and expressed confidence that more state funds would be allocated to education, health, infrastructure, and other critical areas of the economy.
According to him, the expectation is that the removal of fuel subsidy will open up better financial capabilities for the country to invest in other areas such as education as well as advance development among the citizenry.
The business tycoon stated that the courtesy visit was congratulatory and an opportunity to brief the President on the activities of the Bill Gates and Aliko Dangote Foundations, as they seek more commitments from the President, particularly towards advancing the nation’s health sector.
He also noted that “Nigerians have been getting a lot and should expect more. All is great, things are going well”.
On his part, the President pledged to prioritise the health and safety of Nigerians, underscoring that the health of citizens, particularly the workforce is critical for any country to develop.
The president said his administration would do all that is required to make their work in Nigeria and Africa successful, particularly in the area of eradicating polio, measles, malaria and other diseases from the continent.
According to the president, Gates “has all it takes to help developing nations more”.
Following his inauguration, Tinubu has continued to host prominent guests in Aso Rock.
He had earlier today met with chairman of Bharti Artel Worldwide, Sunil Mittal; who came in company of chief executive officer Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, and other members of the company’s board.
Tinubu also held a meeting with the United States Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Energy Resources, Geoffrey Praytt, as well as the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari.
According to a statement by presidential spokesman, Dele Alake, while saluting the courage and commitment of Bill Gates in working for humanity, he commended the partnership with Aliko Dangote Foundation.
The president said his administration would do all that is required to make their work in Nigeria and Africa successful, particularly in the area of eradicating polio, measles, malaria and other diseases from the continent.
But he warned about the budgetary constraints and other issues around funding.
The president praised Bill Gates’ efforts in the area of Climate Change and in eradicating polio and malaria from Africa.
He, however, told the philanthropist that the West needed to hear more from him with respect to the plight of the developing countries, saying “you have all it takes to help developing nations more.”
