HIKE IN PETRO, ELECTRICITY PRICES: Worried over planned strike, FG to meet Labour, CSOs

A Federal Government delegation is set to meet with the organised private labour and civil society groups in a bid to avert the planned nationwide over the hike in prices of electricity and petrol in the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari, according to the Minister of Labour and Employment, gave the directive on Friday, that the ministry dialogue with the labour unions immediately.

The meeting is scheduled for today (Saturday) in Abuja.

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have threatened to mobilise workers for the strike aimed at forcing government to reverse last week’s increase of petrol price to N159 per litre and of electricity to over N60 per unit.

Ngige revealed this while speaking with State House correspondents, adding that the dialogue would afford government the opportunity to lay the state of the nation’s finances bare and the challenges both face on the table for better understanding.

According to him, he would be reaching out to the concerned labour and trade union bodies as well as the civil society groups to get them ready for the meeting.

“The President has approved for us to have a bigger government side meeting with the organised private labour. All the government institutions that have to do with the finances of government will be part of the meeting so that we meet with them and show them the books”, he said a meeting with President Buhari on Friday.

He added: “So, the invitation is going out to them this afternoon; the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and their affiliates or supporters and friends in the Civil Society Organisations.

“The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow (today). So, I will relate more with the Chief of Staff to the President and the leadership of the unions today so that we do this meeting tomorrow.

“At the meeting, government finances, challenges and everything will be laid bare on the table. Their own fears and what they think is also good for the Nigerian people, especially the workers, they will also table it so that we look at it.

Read also: FUEL, ELECTRICITY PRICE HIKES: Protests rock Abuja, Oyo, Lagos, others

“The electricity tariff, as you know, the Electricity Regulatory Commission approved the increase based on certain electricity band R1 and R2. And even in the R2 band, you have soft bands so that we can protect the rural poor and people who are in the suburbs.

“So, we are going to look at them holistically because we want a stable labour industrial union in the country. So, the President has been briefed and he is in tune and has given the support to talk to everybody we need to talk to.”

Ngige further disclosed that government has also reached out to some unions in the universities which are planning a separate strike.

His said: “The tripartite unions of university system, including some colleges of education and some hospitals, Non-Academic Staff of Universities (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), we have invited them to a meeting.

“The leadership met with me last week and the major thrust of the challenges they have is on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information (IPPIS) system.

“They claim and allege that the IPPIS system is over-deducting some line items like taxes, the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) taxes they claim the IPPIS system is charging more than they are supposed to debit.

“They also claim that some allowances that are peculiar to the university system, like responsibility allowance, hazard allowance, field trip allowance and education of children allowance, that the IPPIS has stopped all of them.

“At the government level, we have discussed and we now want to do a special session with them; they come with their facts and the Accountant General will lead his team, the National Salaries and Incomes and Wages will also come and the Ministry of Labour will lead and then we discuss and find out who is treating the other unfairly.”

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