Fuel Subsidy Removal: TUC Confronts Tinubu’s Delegation, Issues Demands to Prevent Strike

“The TUC that attended today’s meeting presented a list of demands and those demands we have studied and we are going to present to Mr President, for his consideration.”

A delegation from the Trade Union Congress (TUC), on Sunday, met with a team selected by President Bola Tinubu over the fuel subsidy controversy.

Trade Union Congress (TUC)

Dele Alake, a member of the presidential delegation at the meeting held at the State House in Abuja, briefed journalists after the meeting.

Mr Alake suggested that the TUC was already warming up to accepting the removal of the petrol subsidy by the government on the condition that the government meets its demands.

“The TUC that attended today’s meeting presented a list of demands and those demands we have studied and we are going to present to Mr President, for his consideration,” Mr Alake said. “But those demands we can announce to Nigerians that a lot of the items on the list are not impracticable.”

One major item on the list of demands by the TUC, according to Mr Alake, is an increase in workers’ salaries.

“Now, most important and top priority on the list which the government is also looking at very seriously and the president has announced before, is the issue of the minimum wage which the Labour movement has demanded is the consequential impact of this removal of subsidy.

“So, government is looking at that and Mr President is most likely going to constitute a tripartite committee, that is a committee of the federal government, including the state and then the organised Labour and the private sector.”

Although Mr Alake did not list the other items on the TUC list of demands, he said there was also a demand for tax breaks for workers.

He also said that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) was not at the meeting and that further meetings, including with the NLC, were planned.

Both the NLC and the TUC had called on their member unions to commence a nationwide strike on Wednesday after the government announced the removal of subsidy on petrol last week.

The removal of the subsidy led to an increase of almost 200 per cent in petrol prices nationwide.

The government has repeatedly said the subsidy on petrol was unsustainable due to the amount spent. Over N4 trillion was used to subsidise petrol last year, more than the government spent on education and healthcare combined.

However, critics of the fuel subsidy removal argue that it will further weaken the purchasing power of Nigerians and impoverish more citizens in a country where almost half of the population is poor.

Well, as you all know, we had this reconvened meeting today as we promised you few days ago when we had the initial meeting with the Labour movement.

We said we were going to reconvene today to keep the engagement on in order to diffuse the tension in the land as a result of the withdrawal of subsidy, which is a reality.

Now, we are very happy to announce to Nigerians that this engagement has been very productive. The TUC that attended today’s meeting presented a list of demands and those demands we have studied and we are going to present to Mr President, for his consideration. But those demands we can announce to Nigerians that a lot of the items on the list are not impracticable.

What we need to do is to study the numbers very well. Then, we have asked the TUC to also give us a leeway to consult very exhaustively and reconvene on Tuesday to actually look at the numbers, viability, practicability of all the items that have been presented to us.

Now, most important and top priority on the list which the government is also looking at very seriously and the president has announced before, is the issue of the minimum wage which the Labour movement has demanded is the consequential impact of this removal of subsidy.

So, government is looking at that and Mr President is most likely going to constitute a tripartite committee, that is a committee of the federal government, including the state and then the organised Labour and the private sector.

Now, this is a tripartite arrangement, it will be a committee that will study all the dynamics of a wage increase in percentages, the numbers and the categories that will be affected.

So, by Tuesday when we come back to reconvene, to meet with the TUC again, we should have very concrete items to present to the world. But the most important thing for today is that we are making appreciable progress with the Labour.

What are the other demands beyond the minimum wage?

It is a list but we are not going to be listing all of them now. The most important is the minimum wage, that is increase of minimum wage. Because, when this thing is removed, the argument of Labour is that there is an immediate impact on the workers, on the purchasing power because the price of fuel has gone up.

So, that will necessarily reduce the purchasing power of the average worker. So, the next thing of immediate consequence is to increase the purchasing power of the worker. So that to me and to all of us on this side is the top most priority on the list.

There are other things like the tax holidays which some categories of workers will be beneficiaries. But the most important is the minimum wage.

(Source: premiumtimesng.com)