– Federal Government and Labour meeting ends in deadlock
The coming week may be tough for the people of Nigeria the government of Nigeria and organized Labour could not reach an agreement at their meeting on Saturday 14th January in Abuja Nigeria.
The labour leaders lead by Com. Omar of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Peter Esele of Trade Union Congress (TUC) had earlier met with the federal government and its representatives on Thursday last week to negotiate the hike in the pump price of petrol in Nigeria which has gone up from N65 to N141 (almost 120% increase) following the announcement of fuel subsidy removal by the government. The Thursday meeting could not yeaild anything positive as both parties agreed to meet again on Saturday to discuss way forward and possibly get the Labour leaders to call of the ongoing nationwide strike.
Sharpedgenews.com learnt that the NLC and TUC leaders from all the states of the federation had earlier met at a popular hotel located at Jabi, Abujato discuss and foster a common goal for the meeting with the federal government scheduled for 6pm same day. It was gather that NLC and TUC agreed in their meeting that there will be no negotiation with the federal government unless they revert pump price to N65.
Howeverthe negotiation meeting which later started around 7pm had a break at 9.37 and resumed about 20 minutes later ends at 11.17pm with no concrete agreement reached as labour insists on their demand of N65 per litter.
The coming week may be a problem for the people of Nigeria, if going by the earlier statement issued by Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) threatening to shut down oil production if the federal government did not go back to N65. Government on their part has been trying to prevent this has it will have a greater negative effect on the economy of Nigeria.
Present at the meeting were Senate President David Mark;his deputy Ike Ekweremadu; Deputy Speaker House of Representatives Emeka Ihedioha; Senate Leader NdomaEgba; Senator Abdul Ningi and House Leader, MulikatAkande.
Also in attendance were Governors BabatundeFashola of Lagos, BabangidaAliyu of Niger, Adams Oshiomhole of Edo, Wamako of Sokoto, Peter Obi of Anambra, ChibuikeAmaechi of Rivers, LiyelImoke of Cross Rivers, MuritalaNyako of Adamawa and Gabriel Suswam of Benue.
Representing the Federal Government were Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim; National Security Adviser OwoyeAzazi;Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,Minister of Finance; MrsDeizaniMadueke, Petroleum Resources; Mr. Emeka Wogu,- Labour;Mohammed Bello Adoke,- Attorney General; LabaranMaku , Information and FCT- Bala Mohammed ,FCT; as well as the NNPCGMD- Austen Oniwon.
On the side of Labour are NLC President, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, TUC President Peter Esele, National Secretary, Comrade OweiLakemfa, Secretary General, TUC, Comrade, John Kolawole and NLC Treasurer, Comrade AyubaWabbaand 13 others.