By Paul Onwude
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has met with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and representatives of the Federal Government on the shelved strike by the NLC.
Comrade Ismail Bello, Deputy General Secretary of Congress informed the Media in a Press Conference organized to thank Nigerian Workers and the people in Kaduna. “I can inform this gathering that it was yesterday that the President of Congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, led a delegation of NLC officials, to meet with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF); in a dialogue like this, it will not be one meeting, it will be series of meetings with each side stating its own positions”, he explained.
Earlier, he disclosed that ” the NLC President was invited for a meeting with the FGN but he declined, insisting that the organs of NLC, must consider the issues in the official communication to Congress and take a position, which will be communicated to the government before NLC can come for a meeting”.
In addition, he cleared the air that ” it is not a one-off event/meeting, but the process started yesterday and he is sure other processes of engagements will be ongoing”.
While taking questions from Reporters, he stated that the NLC has been engaging the government both formally and informally on a whole lot of issues like electricity tariffs, cooking gas prices, and VAT, without necessarily going on strike, but using diplomacy, that ” it is only when the NLC is on the road or served a notice of strike that some people see that the Congress is working, but on a daily basis NLC is engaging government on series of discussions and dialogue aimed at putting things in the interest of working people and the large society”.
Confusion as court restrains APC from holding ward, LGA congresses in Anambra
Meanwhile, Comrade Ayuba Suleiman, Chairman, NLC Kaduna State on his part, thanked President Muhammadu Buhari, for what he called ” unconditional withdrawal of the fuel subsidy removal”, which shows sensitivity to the plight of the ordinary people of Nigeria since no President has done so before without a Labour action in the past, that in itself is worthy of commendation, he maintained.
The Chairman thanked the National Assembly, especially the Senate President, Dr. Ahmed Lawal, for guiding President Buhari on the right part. The NLC also thanked the Nigeria Worker, too, for standing with Congress and it partners in the Civil Society and the nation at large.
Nonetheless, NLC will be watching and prepared to engage the government, should it renege on its commitments and promises, he concluded.
