Nigeria labour unions stormed out of a meeting with the Nigerian government Presidential Steering Committee on subsidy palliatives at the Aso Rock in Abuja, Friday evening.
Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) led union leaders to the office of the Chief of Staff (CoS), Femi Gbajabiamila but were seen leaving the venue shortly after.
The government delegation and the steering committee met on Wednesday, and the two parties decided to meet again on Friday to hear updates from the three subcommittees formed to look into various issues.
The government created the group to develop palliatives for workers that would lessen the impact of removing fuel subsidy.
However, the meeting was unable to continue because, in the opinion of certain Steering Committee members, there was not a quorum.
The federal government was accused by the labour unions of misleading Nigerians by using the meetings as a cover.
Three subcommittees, the Mass Transit, the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), and the Cash Transfer subcommittees, were expected to be present to inform the Steering Committee of the steps taken to mitigate the impact of the elimination of fuel subsidies on the workforce. This was confirmed by a source at the meeting.
Government representatives who are part of the subcommittees, according to labour, were allegedly nowhere to be found when they arrived for the meeting.
A labour representative on the Steering Committee who did not want to be named 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.”
Nigeria newspaper, Daily Trust gathered that the CoS, Gbajabiamila and other members of his team waited for the labour delegation at his Conference Hall.
The newspaper claimed that he stepped out to attend to other official matters within the villa while other members of the government team waited for the labour leaders.
The labour unions led by NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) were reportedly delayed at the State House entrance gate with no intervention from Gbajabiamila and his team.
The names of the labour delegation were not sent to the gate for clearance by the office of the CoS and this caused a long delay.
Reacting to what happened, a labour leader simply told journalists, “We were detained at the gate.”
The aborted meeting is the fourth in a series of meetings since the removal of fuel subsidy by the Bola Tinubu administration.
Chronicle NG reports that organised labour have announced a nationwide protest slated for August 2 in a bid to push back on the insensitivity of the Tinubu government to Nigerians sufferings.
