September 15, 2024

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General News

Fuel subsidy: FG, Labour continue talks on palliatives

By Ismail Abdulaziz

The Federal Government says it will continue to work out measures to ameliorate the effect of the fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians.

These measures include the introduction of the use of Compress Natural Gas, mass transportation and cleaner energy alternatives.

Ms Olu Verheijen, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Energy, disclosed this at the end of a meeting with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Abuja on Wednesday.

She said that the meeting made progress in agreeing to fast track a lot of the intervention that would stop the strike planned by the labour unions next week.

‘’But we are making progress, we’re trying to address the issues that will prevent a strike. We have to get it right. It’s important that we do this well, and we keep our promises.

‘’So it’s important that whatever is announced actually gets done. We don’t want to make big announcements and continue to lose people’s trust.

‘’It’s important that we build trust, and that most of the announcements and the plans that we roll out are credible and impactful,’’ said Verheijen.

She assured that Tinubu was taking measures to address issues concerning the palliatives, adding that he is very concerned about it.

‘’He is concerned about it, as you’ve seen all of us working round the clock here to make sure that we are able to announce these measures as quickly as possible. It’s a whole package of issues that we’re rolling out as quickly as possible.’’

Mr Joe Ajaero, NLC President, said that the meeting has the mandate to discuss only the pump price of N520 per litre and not that of the N617, adding that they are two separate issues.

‘’We met based on the N520 increase and the committee that was set based on that and we agreed to work to realise the objectives that were set during that moment.

‘’The two centres have made their positions known and are before Nigerians; the TUC, the NLC, our position is known. And it’s public knowledge.

‘’Nobody is discussing N617 as of now and this meeting didn’t have the competence to address that,’’ he said.

On his part, Mr Festus Osifo, the TUC President, said that the meeting was able to present a position from both the government and labour, adding that a decision will be taken by Friday on the strike.

‘’Some of the things they presented we did not agree with. So the areas we did not agree with we also made our input known. When you come to such a meeting it is for the government or its representatives to do a presentation.

‘’But it’s left for us to either agree or disagree. So during the meeting, we gave them sufficient feedback. And they also agreed to go and look at those feedbacks and get back to us on Friday,’’ he said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Chidinma Agu/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

General News

Subsidy: CSOs decry alleged exclusion by NLC in negotiation with FG

By Emmanuel Oloniruha

A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on Sunday decried their alleged exclusion by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the ongoing fuel subsidy negotiation with the Federal Government.

 

They stated this in a statement signed by Dr Basil Yelwa Musa and Malam Haruna Maigida, its convener and co-convener respectfully and released in Abuja.

 

They said any agreement the NLC reaches with the Federal Government without carrying them along would not be acceptable.

 

The coalition which comprises of 65 different organisations added that that any negotiation done in the absence of CSOs would only end up serving the interest of NLC with about 35.6 million workers, leaving out 175.4 million Nigerians not captured.

 

The CSOs raised concern about the proposed salary increment by NLC for the workers without factoring palliatives for the citizens in the informal sector.

 

They said given that it is the CSOs that know the depth of hash condition Nigerians are going through, they therefore called on the Federal Government to stop further negotiation with NLC until the CSOs are co-opted into it.

 

They called on the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume and other key government officials involved in the negotiation to immediately draft the CSOs and other stakeholders to an all-encompassing discussion that will provide a lasting solution.

 

They described as backstabbing, the turn of events when the NLC’s current leaders chose to hold meetings with the representatives of the Federal Government without them.

 

They recalled that in the times past, CSOs were drafted into the struggle to protest when there were breaches of agreements with the Federal Government.

 

They called on the Federal Government to investigate the discrepancies recorded in the subsidy figures during the last administration and the current one.

 

“In the history of Nigeria, this is the first time, the fuel subsidy was removed with dare consequences as petroleum pump price surged to over 35 per cent with its attendant hike in food stuff and other commodities.

 

“This, the CSOs viewed as unsustainable as Nigerians can no longer live their average life due to difficulties.

 

“The coalition also called on the Federal Government to probe all fuel subsidy payments for the past years and ensure that all illegal payments are recovered for servicing of the country.

 

“This becomes necessary as the latest figure showed a drastic reduction in the consumption of litres of fuel per day, after fuel subsidy was scrapped by President Bola Tinubu on May 29.

 

“The coalition insists that it remains a mystery for litres of petrol consumption to have dropped from 66 million per day to 40 million.

 

“Investigation into activities of fuel subsidies will reveal the threshold of scam that has been existing in the oil and gas industry for several years which Nigerians are interested to see further reasons the subsidy should be removed,” they said.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Economy/Business

Subsidy: Group canvasses N200,000 minimum wage, e-governance days for workers

 

By Naomi Sharang

 

A Non-Governmental Organisation, Workers’ Alliance for Inclusive Socio-economic Reforms (WAISER), has canvassed N200,000 monthly salary as minimum wage for Nigerian workers to cushion effects of the recent fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government.

 

The group also proposed to government, two days of the week as e-governance work days in line with the global emerging trends.

 

The National Coordinator of the group, Mr Amodu Isiaka, disclosed this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.

 

The proposal, according to Isiaka will help boost productivity and increase morale of Nigerian workers.

 

Isiaka said the call became imperative to urgently reduce the pains workers are going through in view of the subsidy removal.

 

He said the socio-economic realities of the removal are currently being faced by about 130 million Nigerians living below poverty line; with over 30 per cent unemployment rate.

 

Speaking further on the proposal, he said, “this will automatically reduce work-related expenditure by as much as 40%.

 

“Kwara, Edo and some other states have embraced declaration of two days as work free days. Benue has

experimented with work- free days for farming. Kaduna State also has a work-free day policy.

 

“The Federal Government has an existing initiative on e-governance through National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Security Exchange

Commission (SEC).

 

“This was designed to among others to

support the development of government eservices for responsive, efficient, effective and equitable delivery of public service to all people in strategic sectors of the

economy.

 

“Apart from saving cost, productivity will be more

transparent, measurable and manageable onegovernment

platforms.

 

“Hence, it will be an incentive for improved

performance in service delivery,” he added.

 

On the minimum wage, the national coordinator said, “there should be an immediate upward review of wages for workers.

 

“The minimum wage of 30,000 naira is no longer tenable. We are

proposing 200,000 naira per month(about 500% increase).

 

Among other proposals put forward by Isiaka is the immediate financial and technical supports to schools and hospitals in the private sector of the economy.

 

He also called for special allowances for Military and Police Personnel (MPP) while a state of emergency should be declared in the agriculture and housing sectors.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Politics

Reps task FG on palliatives to cushion effects of fuel subsidy removal

By Femi Ogunshola

The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Government to introduce palliative measures to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians.

This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by Rep. Sani Madaki (NNPP-Kano) on the floor of the House in Abuja on Wednesday.

Presenting the motion, Madaki expressed concern over the sudden fuel subsidy removal which had left millions of Nigerians terrified and causing untold hardship to them.

He said Nigerians were struggling to meet up with not only the high cost of petrol but also the consequential increase in the prices of food stuff.

He said in response to the resulting financial strain of the subsidy removal on public workers, some proactive state governors had introduced temporary measures to address the situation.

Madaki said that this was by reducing working days from five to three days, pending when other palliatives can be provided.

“The house is aware of a presidential directive to put palliative measures in place to ameliorate the impact of subsidy removal on Nigerians. But the federal government is yet to implement it.

“The House is worried that since the removal of the subsidy, several protests have been recorded as citizens accused the government of being insensitive to their plight,” he said.

The House, thereafter, mandated the Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity, when constituted to ensure compliance and report back within two weeks for further legislative action.

(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

President Bola Tinubu
Defence/Security

Group backs Tinubu on subsidy removal, calls for restructuring

 

By Sumaila Ogbaje

The Campaign for Democracy (CD), a pro-democracy, civil society and human rights organisation, has backed President Bola Tinubu on the removal of fuel subsidy.

The group made this known in a communique issued by its North Central Executive Committee at the end of its meeting on Friday in Minna, a copy of which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Saturday.

 

The communique was jointly signed by the Chairman, North Central Zone, Dr Abdullahi Mohammed, and Secretary General, Mr Abdulwahid Adeniran.

 

They urged the president to restructure the nation’s security architecture to effectively tackle the challenge of insecurity as well as Nigeria as a country.

 

They said the expectation of Nigerians were high in tandem with the renewed hope principle and focused policy of the administration.

 

According to the communique, the removal of the fuel subsidy was long overdue and welcome the development for the good of Nigerians.

 

The group also urged the government to do the needful by putting necessary palliative policy measures and logistics to soften the hardship that might accompany the new paradigm shift among the citizens.

“That there is a need for national task force comprising of the Army, Police, Customs, Navy, Air Force, Civil Defence and non-state actors, civil society, among other stakeholders, to check the arbitrary price increase of the product, stop exploitation of the people by fuel marketers and their collaborators/dealers to tarnish the image of the new administration in the eyes of the public,” they said.

 

The group also called on stakeholders in the educational sector to come up with solutions to the challenges of 12.3 million out-of-school in Nigeria as a result of insecurity.

 

They also advocated that the president should give directions to child education through resettlement of IDPs, tackle banditry, poverty, food insecurity and socio- economic challenges confronting the nation.

 

The group recommended that federal government policy programme implementation be adopted at sub-national state and local governments for the benefit of Nigerians.

 

According to them, this synergy is key towards collaborative building of the country.

 

Besides, CD called on Tinubu to restructure the nation’s security architecture for better performance to further curb crimes and criminalities.

 

They however commended the Armed Forces of Nigeria for taking the battle against insurgency, kidnapping and banditry to the door steps of the criminals.

 

According to the group, the battle against insecurity is winnable by our gallant military men and officers in the theatre of the war.

 

They therefore called on all stakeholders to support Tinubu toward physical and economically restructuring of Nigeria for the common interest of all.

The group congratulated the new governor and deputy governor of Niger, advising them to partner with all relevant stakeholders for the peace and development of the state.

“We appeal to the incoming government to take the welfare of civil servants seriously by providing motivational incentives to improve the working conditions of workers and ensure commensurate take home wages and salaries are paid as of when due,” the group urged. (NAN)

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