The organized labour has cautioned the federal government against petrol subsidy removal.
It threatened to resist the move if Government does not is not carry workers along in taking such a decision which will greatly affect the masses, especially the workers.
The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo and the Secretary-General, Abba Toro, gave the caution while chatting with journalists on the proposed removal of fuel subsidy by the government.
This followed the pronouncement made by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the Voice of Nigeria in Abuja.
The Minister had disclosed that petrol subsidy would be removed before the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure on May 29.
She attributed the delay in the subsidy removal, as provided for in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, to the 2023 general elections and the National Population Census.
However, labour officials described the plan by Buhari-led administration to remove the subsidy before it leaves on May 29, and leave the chaos that will follow the incoming administration as not fair. They said citing the PIA as the basis for removing the subsidy does not hold water because there is no law made by man that is cast in stone.
The TUC President, Osifo, said there must be discussions between the organized labour and the government (whether outgoing or incoming) before the removal of subsidy.
“Well, anybody can make pronouncements on the removal of subsidies in his or her kitchen, what I know is that we can’t even talk about palliatives now when we have not sat at a round table to discuss the main issue.
“As of now, no discussion is ongoing regarding that. Whatever the government wants to do on that, labour is a critical stakeholder that must be carried along.
“We will sit together, discuss, solve grey areas and find a common ground,” Osifo told one of our correspondents in his Abuja office.
On his part, the TUC Secretary General stressed the need to carry organized labour along before removing the petrol subsidy.
He said, “That is what we call social dialogue. Everything will be back to square one if the government removes subsidies without carrying labour along.”
When reminded that the PIA law signed by President Buhari stated that subsidy removal must not exceed June, Toro said “laws were not cast in the iron”.
“As the president alluded to, it is a function of social dialogue, and they cannot push out a policy through our throats without consultation, if they don’t consult, we will automatically confront them if it affects us directly. There is no way we will allow that.
“Laws are written by human beings, and it is to govern human beings, so, those laws are not cast in the irons. Because they are laws, and they are not favourable to the survival of the people, should we keep quiet? No! That is why we have the Parliament”.
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