Petrol Subsidy: FG, Labour Say Palliative Ready Soon

The Federal Government and organised labour have agreed on the implementation of palliatives for Nigerians as a result of the recent removal of the petrol subsidy.

The agreement was reached on Monday at a meeting between the parties in Aso Rock Presidential Villa.

Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had announced three weeks ago that the federal government will implement some palliatives measures as part of the efforts to cushion the effects of subsidy removal on Nigerians.

Following the announcement, the representatives of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC and Trade Union Congress, TUC, also met to work out the method of implementation of the proposed interventions.

The parties have now agreed on the modalities, according to the feelers from the meeting held yesterday, attended by Femi Gbajabiamila, President Tinubu Chief of Staff, and other top federal government officials, including Joe Ajaero, NLC President and Festus Osifo, TUC President.

Addressing journalists after the meeting, TUC President Festus Osifo and his NLC counterpart, Joe Ajaero, said the parties would meet next Monday to review the framework they agreed upon.

Osifo said: “We have concluded our meeting. If you remember very well, the last time that we were here, that TUC and NLC met with government about two weeks ago, we agreed that we were going to reconvene today. That is June 19. We just reconvened. We had a meeting although brief…

“We agreed that anything we are putting together we are going to conclude everything in eight weeks. Everything must be rolled out within that time, not something that we are going to leave endlessly. They have submitted the framework to us. We have looked at it. We have made input. This night, we will continuously work on it in order for us to come up with the deliverables…”

“If you look at the communiqué that was signed in our last meeting, there are some action items in the communiqué. So, it’s actually how these action items will be delivered. For example, we need to have a Presidential Steering Committee that will have to oversee everything.

“We also need to have technical sub-committees, because if we talk about the issue of CNG, we need experts… You need those people that are willing to invest… You need the national oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to come up with what they need to do and the time with which they are going to deliver.

“There are some technicalities that are required beyond this meeting. So, those technical committees will be subsumed into presidential committees. But all these we must conclude maximum in eight weeks. So, those technical committees; some will submit their reports in one week. When they submit in one week, we implement; when they submit in two weeks, we will implement. But the last should not exceed eight weeks.

“The terms of reference of these committees are going to be agreed on between today and tomorrow. We are looking at five broad technical committees that will be subsumed into Presidential Steering Committee. There must be timelines in these terms of reference but maximum should not exceed eight weeks. By next week Monday, we will be here again, same time,” Osifo said.

Speaking for the federal government, Dele Alake, the Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communication and Strategies, said the implementation of the palliative measures will be based on the short term, medium term, and long term basis.