The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress have urged that President Tinubu replace Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila as the government’s representative in the subsidy removal negotiations.
During a meeting with the Senate on Tuesday, the union’s leadership expressed their displeasure with Mr Gbajabiamila.
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According to NLC President Joe Ajaero, it has been impossible to move on with negotiations on subsidy removal since Mr Gbajabiamila has been too busy to convene a meeting.
Mr Ajaero also alleged that the wage award committee set up by President Bola Tinubu had failed to meet since it was established.
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“Part of our challenge is the issue of the committee put in place, the committee seems not to be capable […] at no time had the Chief of Staff to the President who is very busy called to negotiate or lead negotiations,” Mr Ajaero said.
Mr Ajaero indicated that, despite the President’s assurances to restructure the mechanism of engagement, no meeting has been scheduled. “And that has delayed the issues,” he said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, both unions complained about the lack of urgency in addressing some of their grievances.
Mr Femi Osifo, President of the TUC, questioned why the federal government couldn’t use the one trillion naira in subsidy savings to deliver better palliatives. “3,000 buses are too small,” he said.
In response, Senate President Godswill Akpabio claimed that the Tinubu administration had inherited tremendous debt from the previous administration and was doing everything possible to offset the impact of the subsidy removal.
“The president told you that he had saved N1 trillion in two months but did not that tell you the fact that he inherited over N30 trillion which is running into more when you put together both the local and foreign debts,” Mr Akpabio said.
He promised to present the unions’ concerns before the president in order to reach a long-term solution to the standoff.
