…By Dorcas Funmi for TDPel Media.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have scheduled an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Friday, June 2, to address the issue of the removal of fuel subsidy.
TUC President, Festus Osifo, confirmed this during an interview on Channel Television’s Sunrise Daily.
Rejection of Petrol Subsidy Removal
Earlier in the week, both the NLC and TUC had released separate statements rejecting President Bola Tinubu’s announcement that petrol subsidy would be phased out by the end of June.
In an attempt to resolve the matter, the Federal Government and Organised Labour met on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Lack of Consensus in Government-Labour Meeting
However, the meeting between the government and organised labour ended without reaching an agreement.
The two parties were unable to find a consensus, leading the organised labour to state that the meeting would reconvene once they have consulted with their members, although the specific date for the next meeting has not been determined.
Discussion on Various Options
Osifo emphasized that the upcoming NEC meeting would be dedicated to discussing the different options available to the organised labour following the announcement of fuel subsidy removal.
He further expressed the view that the government caught the labour leaders off guard with the release of the new petrol pump price by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) on Wednesday.
Confirmation of Lack of Consensus
Reiterating the outcome of the government-labour meeting, Osifo clarified that no agreement had been reached during the discussions.
This indicates that there are still unresolved issues and divergent perspectives between the government and organised labour regarding the removal of fuel subsidy.