By Uzair Adam Imam
The Federal Government has appealed to the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to shelve its planned strike over fuel subsidy removal.
The FG said it was doing everything possible to address issues raised by the congress, which threatened to embark on a nationwide strike in August.
The Daily Reality reports that the Congress Spokesperson, Ben Upah, made this disclosure on Wednesday, adding that they give seven days to the federal government to address the demand.
Speaking after the Steering Committee meeting on Palliatives, Olu Verheijen, the leader of the government team and Special Adviser to the President on Energy, pleaded with labour to give the federal government more time to look into its grievances rather than embark on industrial action.
She explained that the government was yet to roll out palliatives because it didn’t want to make mistakes, adding that the meeting with organised labour was productive and would continue tomorrow.
Asked about the agenda of the meeting, she said: “It involves labour and some parts of government; it’s a steering committee. it’s a wide group of people, a wide group of stakeholders representing the interests of Nigerians. And we’ve agreed to continue to make progress.
“It was a very productive meeting, the focus was really around how we fast-track a lot of the interventions that will bring relief, particularly around CNG, mass transportation, cleaner energy, transportation, and reduce the impact of the cost of transportation, the increased cost of transportation. So we’ve made good progress. And we’re going to continue to do so and so that we can start rolling out these opportunities and these relief measures as quickly as possible.”
Asked if Labour will not embark on strike as threatened, she said: “The labour unions will speak to that. But we are making progress; we’re trying to address the issues that will prevent a strike. So that is essentially why I feel we made very good progress today and will continue to do so.”