On Friday, the organized labour made an abrupt exit from the scheduled meeting of the Presidential Steering Committee on subsidy palliatives at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja. Led by Joe Ajaero, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the delegation initially attended the meeting at the Chief of Staff’s office but soon left the villa.
On Wednesday, the Steering Committee had a meeting with the government delegation, during which both parties agreed to reconvene on Friday.
The purpose of Friday’s meeting was to receive briefings from the three subcommittees that were established to address the various demands put forth by the organized labour. The committee was constituted by the government to come up with palliatives that would cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal on the workers.
However, the organized labour claimed that government officials who were members of the subcommittees were nowhere to be found during the Friday meeting.
This absence led to dissatisfaction and frustration on the part of the labour delegation, resulting in their walkout from the scheduled meeting at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.
GOVIMA had reported that labour has already scheduled a nationwide protest for August 2 to press home their demands over the petroleum subsidy removal.
The member of the Steering Committee from labour who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, “They are not prepared for the meeting. That’s the truth. The government representatives had insisted that the meeting should proceed even though no quorum was formed.
“They are using cover to deceive Nigerians. There are supposed to be three subcommittees, mass transit subcommittee, the CNG, and the cash transfer, to brief us, the steering committee but government was not prepared for the meeting.
“In their introductory remarks they made excuses and they wanted the meeting to continue, the meeting did not form a quorum. We are a people that operate on the basis of process. So, if there’s no quorum in a meeting what do you do? You will adjourn for lack of quorum.
“There was nobody to meet with. The Chief of Staff was not there, they are taking us children.”
It was, however, gathered that the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, had earlier waited for the labour delegation with other members of the team at his Conference Hall. He later stepped out to attend to other official matters within the Villa while other members of the government team were waiting for the organised labour to arrive
The representatives of the organised labour from the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) encountered a delay at the State House entrance gate, commonly known as Mopol gate, where they were supposed to undergo clearance.
It was reported that the names of the labour delegation were not sent to the gate for clearance, which led to their delay in gaining entry for the scheduled meeting.
Frustrated by the situation, one of the leaders of the labour delegation informed journalists that they felt “detained at the gate” due to the lack of clearance, which further exacerbated the already tense situation.
The unsuccessful meeting marked the fourth in a series of meetings held since the implementation of the petroleum subsidy removal.
It aimed to continue discussions on the initial increase of the pump price of petroleum to N520 per litre. However, due to the delay and subsequent walkout by the organized labour delegation, the meeting could not proceed as planned, adding to the ongoing tensions surrounding the issue of fuel price and subsidy removal in Nigeria.
