FG, TUC parley as NLC insists on protest

By Ukpono Ukpong

In apparent moves to stave off the planned protest and possibly strike action by labour unions, the Federal Government on Thursday reached out to the leadership of the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

This is coming on the heels of insistence by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to proceed with its two-day nationwide protest scheduled for February 27 and 28.

During the meeting with the TUC, the Minister of State for Labour, Mrs Nkeiruka Onyejeocha who spoke on behalf of the federal government, said constant threats of strike and protest by the unions could send wrong signals to potential investors.

Appealing to the unions to see strike as a last option, Onyejeocha said the federal government had fulfilled substantial parts of the agreement reached with the unions in October 2023.

“Issuing of constant strike threats could send wrong signals to potential investors. This is not healthy for our business environment,” Onyejeocha said.

She listed the terms of the agreement with the unions as payment of four out of six months on wage award, payment of outstanding salaries and wages of tertiary education workers in federal owned educational institutions, suspension of VAT on diesel and payment of N25,000 conditional cash transfer to 3,140,819 households, including the pensioners.

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While noting that government has made huge financial commitment on the provision of CNG buses and conversion kits, she explained that procurement process was slowing down the launch but measures were already in place to fast-track the process.

The minister further explained that government has commenced a series of engagements with relevant stakeholders on tax incentives, adding that the leadership crisis rocking the NURTW and RTEAN had been resolved.

According to her, among the progress made by government were subsidised distribution of fertilizers to farmers across the country, engagement with various state governments and the private sector on implementation of wage award for their workers, and plans to encourage MSEs in the country to create jobs and boost the economy.

Speaking on the inspection visit to the Port-Harcourt refinery by the TUC and federal government delegation, the minister said reports established that the Port-Harcourt refinery is 80 percent completed.

She explained that the old plant would begin with the production of 54,000 barrels per day, which will produce two million litres of PMS and 2.2 million litres of diesel per day.

The new plant, which is currently going through its last phase of completion, is expected to begin production before the end of the year. The combined capacity of the two plants, when fully on stream, would produce 10 million litres of PMS per day, she said.

The Minister concluded by reiterating government’s commitment to social dialogue with the organised labour and other stakeholders towards achieving industrial peace and harmony, while prioritising workers’ welfare.

Responding, the TUC delegation commended the government for the progress recorded so far in implementing a substantial part of its agreement with the unions but differed on some of the items.

The TUC team maintained that while the issue of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) had been resolved, that of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) is left hanging.

The leader of the TUC team, Nuhu Toro, said, “If the issue of the president of the union has not been resolved, it suggests that the issue of NURTW has not been resolved.

“You have carefully done justice to the items and we commend you and the federal government. But we expect fulfilment of all the agreements.”

Toro observed that some of the items have not been fully implemented, but from their own assessment, the government has achieved 50 percent implementation.

According to Toro, “50 percent is a pass mark, but we urge you to do more. We know there are challenges, but we are very optimistic that they could be addressed”.

The minister disagreed with the 50 percent rating by the union, but Toro said 50 percent was good performance on the side of the government.

On his part, the Deputy President of TUC, Kayode Alakija, thanked the minister for her consistency with union leaders, and appealed to her to back some of the grey areas with data to reconcile them.

“We will appreciate it if you back up the one on VAT with empirical data. You said you got the information from the office of the Finance Minister. So, we will appreciate if they could supply you with data on how they arrived at the information”, he said.

The leadership of the TUC had earlier opted out of the two-day protest over the rising food prices being planned by the NLC.