As Nigerians continue to groan over President Bola Tinubu’s announcement on fuel subsidy removal, OsunDaily News brings you the latest update on Petrol scarcity, fuel subsidy and Govt/citizens’ reactions.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has written all its 43 affiliate unions to mobilise for a nationwide strike which would begin on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, over the removal of fuel subsidy.
In a letter signed by its General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, the NLC asked its affiliates to join the nationwide strike and also mobilise its members for the scheduled industrial action.
The NLC also asked the leadership of the affiliates to ensure full compliance with the directives as services in both the public and private sectors are expected to be fully withdrawn by Wednesday.
Some of the affiliates include the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), and National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) among others.
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has rejected the fuel subsidy removal initiative being implemented by the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
OsunDaily News reports that the TUC President, Festus Osifo, made this known while addressing reporters at the end of an emergency meeting of the congress’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Friday in Abuja.
Osifo called on the Tinubu government to revert to the status quo over its decision to remove fuel subsidy as consultations with labour leaders continue.
The TUC leader said the expectation of the congress was that the government should have engaged organised labour before announcing an end to the subsidy regime.
He said: “Having noted this, we wish to state that the NEC-in- session resolved that discussions with Federal Government should continue while demanding that the government should revert to the status quo ante.
“The status quo ante should be maintained while discussions continue as we had a meeting with the government on Wednesday.
“During that discussion, they gave us a list of all the things they would do and they also demanded to know our thinking and what we are putting up.
“We told them the lists of the things we want to put forward, we will not submit them now but put them forward to our organs, to discuss and seek a mandate from them of the things we can put forward.”
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bayo Onanuga has urged Nigerian workers to ignore the directive from the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Joe Ajaero, asking them to go on strike next Wednesday over the removal of fuel subsidy.
Onanuga alleged that the NLC president was acting the script of the Labour Party (LP) in a bid to destabilize the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking via a post on his verified Twitter handle on Friday, the APC stalwart wondered the reason Ajaero did not oppose the LP and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi who also promised to remove the petrol subsidy.
Onanuga lamented that the NLC president was aware of the destabilizing effect the subsidy was having on the economy, yet was still against its removal.
He called on the Nigerian people and workers to “support the government as it works out new wages and rolls out other interventions, as promised by the President, to mitigate the effects of new fuel price.”
