A meeting directed by President Muhammadu Buhari between the Organised Labour and the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, on the state of the economy is stalled, following the unavailability of the unions.
The Deputy Director, Press Affairs in the Ministry of Labour, Charles Akpan in a text message to AIT said, the meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday, September 15, at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Akpan noted that it has become inevitable, since the organised labour is not likely to be available in one fold.
AIT gathered that the meeting was forced to be shifted, following complaints by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, that the notice was too short, and will be unable to gather its members for Saturday.
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On the other hand, the Trade Union Congress, TUC, which has threatened to issue a strike notice to the Federal government for the immediate reversal of the electricity tariff and petrol pump price increases from Monday, was set to attend Saturday’s meeting.
With the presidential-directed meeting shifted to Tuesday, it appears that the TUC will have to put its ultimatum on hold, until after Tuesday, unless its concerns are addressed.
However, AIT could not confirm if the meeting has the mandate to discuss issues that led to the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, the strike threats by the Non-academic Staff Unions of all tertiary institutions, and that of the Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU.
Some Labour leaders who spoke with AIT off camera said, they expect the focus of the meeting to be on the recent hike in electricity and petrol, and that the unions may not bring their individual complaints to a central table, meant to talk about national issues like subsidy removal, fuel and electricity increases.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
