The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to address some of the grievances of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) within a two-week timeline.
Chronicle NG reports that the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation said this on Tuesday in a statement.
The Federal Government and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) have agreed to give the government two weeks to address some of the grievances of the Congress.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Solomon Lalong, disclosed this in Abuja at the end of a meeting with the leadership of the Trade Union Congress, led by its President, Comrade Festus Osifo.
The meeting was convened by the Minister to resolve the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC’s and Nigeria Labour Congress’ differences with the government and to avert the pending warning strike by organized labour.
According to Lalong, the issues for which a two-week timeline was set for their resolution include wage awards for federal civil servants to cushion the effect of rising poverty among them and tax exemptions for a certain level of workers, both in the public and private sectors.
The other issues on the two-week timeline are to put structures in place to ensure effective implementation of the palliatives declared by the Federal Government for the states and the FCT and to set out the modalities for accessing the N70 billion proposed for the funding of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME), among others.
The Minister declared that after two weeks, the meeting would reconvene for further discussions and added that the parties understood that some of the issues were urgent while others would require a long span of time to resolve.
According to Lalong, the parties also agreed that there would be no strike within this peace period of two weeks “while we are doing deliberations and also working towards realizing some of these objectives.”
The President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Comrade Festus Osifo, stated that the two-week timeline was reasonable, as it would give the government ample time to address the issues.
He disclosed that at the commencement of the meeting, the leadership of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) was pushing for a one-week timeline for the resolution of issues in dispute but had to reconsider after weighing government constraints, stating, “We also need to be pragmatic.”
Osifo stated that their demands, as contained in a communiqué earlier issued by the Congress, include resolving the impasse between the Lagos State Government and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and increasing the amount provided for palliative care as the sum of N5 billion allocated per state is inadequate to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians.
Earlier, in a press conference, the Minister had implored the Nigeria Labour Congress to suspend its planned two-day warning strike scheduled for September 5 and 6, as such action would be detrimental to the gains already recorded by the government in securing a greater future for Nigerian workers and citizens.
He urged the leadership of the NLC to give the government some time to address the issues raised holistically.
The minister reassured Nigerian workers that the government would never take them for granted or fail to appreciate their support and understanding.
