News
Fuel price hike: Tinubu seeks more time to address labour grievances
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday made a passionate appeal to organized labour to give him more time to look into their grievances rather than embark on industrial action.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, made the disclosure after he led members of his leadership to brief the president on the outcome of their engagement with the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which has declared a nationwide strike action.
Abbas told state House correspondents that President Tinubu has pleaded that since he is new in office, he’d need time to evaluate the issues that are being raised by workers, over which he is yet to be briefed.
He said: “What he said is that he’s just coming on board. We should ask them and beg them to please give him a little more time. The things that they mentioned, he is completely unaware of them, he is yet to be briefed about all those issues.
“But from what he heard from me, he also advised that we should channel those issues to the Chief of Staff to look at them one after the other.
“I believe that in the coming days, some concerted actions will be taken.”
He said the House leadership invited NARD following their intention to go on strike, saying that the lawmakers succeeded in persuading the union to shelve the plan.
“Sequel to the meeting we had with them, there were a series of conditions that they gave, that we felt we needed to share with the president,” he said.
He said the purpose of the visit to the presidential villa late Wednesday was to inform the president of the progress made with the doctors association.
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijeh, met with leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress at the presidential villa to continue talks on palliatives to mitigate the impact of subsidy removal.
The steering committee discussed how stakeholders can expedite interventions to bring relief, particularly regarding Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), mass transportation, cleaner energy, and reducing transportation costs.
However, the President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, asserted that the organized labour would go ahead with a protest on August 2.
He stated that their position on the issue was known to the public and they are resolute in their plans for the protest.
Responding to the outcome of the meeting, he said, Well, the outcome is very brief. We met based on the N520 (fuel price) increase and the committee that was set based on that and we agreed to work to realize the objectives that were set during that moment.”
Former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has described the planned increase in electricity and telecom tariffs as unconscionable.
The statement comes after the telecoms regulator last week approved the increase in mobile tariffs.
The federal government also recently said that plans were ongoing to increase electricity tariffs “over the next few months.”
However, Sani, who said the government’s plan is unreasonable, insisted that it should be halted.
The ex-lawmaker also expressed his support for the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the scheduled protest against the government’s proposal, calling it a welcome development.
“The planned increase in electricity tariffs in the midst of poor power supply and the proposal to increase telecom tariffs is unconscionable and should be halted. The scheduled labour union protest is a welcome development,” he posted on X.
The United States President, Donald Trump, has revealed his decision to cut off all future funding to South Africa, citing poor treatment of “certain classes of people.”
Trump made this known on Sunday in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform.
According to Trump, South Africa was seizing land and mistreating some citizens without concern for the violations of their rights.
“South Africa is confiscating land and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.
“I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” Trump wrote.
Reports suggest that the American leader may be defending White South Africans, some of whom have alleged that the South African policy is unfair to them.
There are indications that the federal government will on Monday meet with the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, to stop the planned Tuesday nationwide protest against the 50 percent telecommunications tariff hike.
A reliable source familiar with the matter, who preferred anonymity, disclosed this on Monday morning, noting that the meeting between the NLC leadership and the federal government is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Monday.
The source said the meeting was a “dialogue on matters of national interest as it affects Nigerian workers.”
According to the source, it will be an inter-ministerial meeting with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), purposely to resolve issues raised by the NLC concerning the federal government’s approved upward adjustment to telecommunications tariffs, which the NLC, its allies, and others are vehemently opposing.
This comes as the NLC is already mobilizing workers for a mass protest tomorrow (February 4) against the 50 percent tariff hike approval.
On Thursday last week, in a letter to affiliate unions and state councils, NLC General Secretary Emma Ugboaja urged them to mobilize other Nigerians to send a serious message to the government.
The planned protest follows the 50 percent telecom tariff approval by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on January 20, 2025.
The approval had sparked widespread rejection among telecom subscribers.
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