TUC to confront FG if excluded from petrol subsidy removal plan
The Trade Union Congress has vowed to confront the federal government if it excludes organised labour from its plan to remove petrol subsidy. The workers’ body stressed that government must dialogue before initiating the policy, which might see per liter of petrol go as high as N750 per liter.
Festus Osifo, the TUC president, said no discussion has so far held between labour and the government. He stressed that as “a critical stakeholder”, the organised labour “must be carried along.”
“We will sit together, discuss, solve grey areas and find a common ground,” Osifo told Daily Trust.
Equally, Abba Toro, the body’s secretary-general, said they would confront the government if policy disfavours labour.
“They cannot push out a policy through our throats without consultation. If they don’t consult, we will automatically confront them if it affects us directly. There is no way we will allow that,” he said.
The recently passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) fixes June for the policy implementation. But Toro seems to suggest long time be taken before government removes petrol subsidy.
On this, he said: “Laws are written by human beings, and it is to govern human beings, so, those laws are not cast in the irons. Because they are laws, and they are not favourable to the survival of the people, should we keep quiet? No! That’s why we have the parliament.”
The outgoing government has said its successor would remove subsidy while promising certain palliatives to cushion its likely effect on citizens.
