The leadership of the National Assembly has waded into the ongoing disagreement between the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Federal Government over the recent removal fuel subsidy.
Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki met with the leadership of the Comrade Ayuba Waba-led NLC alongside the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Francis Ailimikhena, Chairman, Senate Committee on Labour, Senator Suleiman Nazif, Senator Joshua Lidani, Senator Kabiru Gaya and Senator Mao Ohunabunwa on Thursday as part of measures to bring the ongoing industrial action to an end.
National Executive members of the NLC who attended the meeting with Wabba included NLC General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, Comrade Peters Adeyemi, Comarde Ibrahim Khaleel, Com. Success Leke, Comrade Oladipo Fashina, Comrade Bala Hadi, Comrade Issa Aremu, and Hon. Uchenna Ekwe.
Addressing journalists after the meeting, the Senate President assured Nigerians that the ongoing strike will soon be resolved.
He said the Senate would ensure that the window of dialogue is kept open towards the resolution of the disagreement while also expressing confidence over the commitment of the Labour leaders towards resuming dialogue and negotiation with the government.
“I want to give a word of encouragement to Nigerians that I am confident that our efforts here in the National Assembly will go a long way to resolve this issue once and for all.
“I am happy to report that the NLC has shown their commitment to continue to dialogue with the Federal Government and our role is to see that we can facilitate that. We shall continue with the dialogue and we will surely address the issue. I am sure that when the Labour leaders leave here, they are going to meet with their members and other stakeholders on the way forward
We in the Senate will continue to play our role in facilitating and ensuring that we can find a lasting solution and to reduce the hardship of the present economic realities on the masses and at the end of the day, I believe that we will all act in the interest of the people,” Saraki said.
NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba commended the Senate President and his colleagues for inviting the Labour Union to get first hand information on the Labour’s engagement with the Federal Government. He added that labour was ready to return to negotiating table with the government.
He lamented that while negotiations were still ongoing concerning the increase in electricity tariff, the government went further to increase the price of the PMS from N86.50 to N145.
Wabba denied media reports that the Labour leaders had walked out on the Government during their meeting aimed at averting the strike.
“The facts and the issues presented and the position of government were made known to us and we did not actually agree.
“The government during the dialogue requested that we should excuse them. We have not at any point walked out on government. We will continue to dialogue because we are doing this in the best interest of the working class and a larger majority of Nigeria citizens”, Wabba said.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Thursday evening, also met with the Comrade Ayuba Wabba-led faction of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, calling on the Labour leaders to suspend the ongoing strike and allow further dialogue to take place.
