Organized labor unions have suspended their planned nationwide indefinite strike action for the next one month, according to a memorandum released after a meeting between the federal government and the unions’ leaders.

The document was signed Monday by the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, the TUC President, Festus Osifo, and Secretary General, Nuhu Toro. It also has the signatures of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong; Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Dr Nkeiruka Onyejeocha; and Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris.

“The NLC and TUC accept to suspend for 30 days the planned Indefinite Nationwide strike scheduled to begin, Tuesday, the 3rd of October, 2023,” the MoU reads in part.

“The Federal Government grants a wage award of N35,000 (thirty-five thousand Naira) only to all Federal Government workers beginning from the month of September pending when a new national minimum wage is expected to have been signed into law.”

The federal government on Sunday, unveiled measures aimed at tackling biting economic hardship emanating from fuel subsidy removal, following a threat by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to embark on indefinite nationwide strike on Wednesday.

The labor unions said they would consider government’s offer and determine whether to suspend the strike or not, after consultation with stakeholders.

However, after an hours-long meeting with the federal government’s representatives on Monday, the decision to suspend the proposed strike was announced.

Read the full memorandum of understanding below:

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING REACHED BETWEEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA AND THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS (NLC) AND TRADE UNION CONGRESS OF NIGERIA (TUC) AS A RESULT OF DISPUTE ARISING FROM WITHDRAWAL OF SUBSIDY ON THE PRICE OF PREMIUM MOTOR SPIRIT (PMS) ON MONDAY, THE 2ND DAY OF OCTOBER, 2023

Arising from the withdrawal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) by the Federal Government and the resultant increase in the price of the commodity, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) issued a strike notice which had elapsed and they were poised to embark on a strike billed to commence on Tuesday, the 3rd of October, 2023. Consequently, a meeting was called by the Federal Government to avert the strike and after much discussion, the following agreements were reached:

1. The Federal Government grants a wage award of N35,000 (thirty-five thousand Naira) only to all Federal Government workers beginning from the month of September pending when a new national minimum wage is expected to have been signed into law.
2. A minimum wage committee shall be inaugurated within one month from the date of this agreement.
3. Federal Government suspends collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) on Diesel for six months beginning from October, 2023.
4. Federal Government accepts to vote N100 billion for the provision of high capacity CNG buses for mass transit in Nigeria. Provisions are also being made for initial 55,000 CNG conversion kits to kick start an auto gas conversion programme, whilst work is ongoing on state-of-the-art CNG stations nationwide. The rollout aims to commence by November with pilots across 10 campuses nationwide.
5. The Federal Government plans to implement various tax incentive measures for private sector and the general public.
6. On the leadership crises rocking the NURTW and the purported proscription of RTEAN, the Federal Government commits to handling Labour matters in line with relevant ILO Conventions and Nigerian Labour Acts. A resolution of the ongoing impasse is expected by or before October 13.
7. The issue of outstanding Salaries and Wages of Tertiary Education workers in Federal-owned educational institutions is being referred to Ministry of Labour and Employment for further engagement.
8. The Federal Government commits to pay N25,000 per month for three months starting from October, 2023 to 15 million households, including vulnerable pensioners.
9. The Federal Government will increase its initiatives on subsidized distribution of fertilizers to farmers across the country.
10. The Federal Government should urge State Government through the National Economic Council and Governors Forum to implement wage award for their workers. Similar consideration should also be given to local government and private sector workers.
11. The Federal Government commits to the provision of funds as announced by the President on the 1st of August broadcast to the Nation for Micro and Small Scale Enterprises. The MSMEs beneficiaries should commit to the principle of decent jobs.
12. A joint visitation will be made to the refineries to ascertain their rehabilitation status.
13. All parties commit to henceforth abide by the dictates of Social dialogue in all our future engagements.
14. The NLC and TUC accept to suspend for 30 days the planned Indefinite Nationwide strike scheduled to begin, Tuesday, the 3rd of October, 2023.
15. This Memorandum shall be filed with the relevant Court of competent jurisdiction within one (1) week as consent judgment by the Federal Government.

Signed:

NLC:

Comrade Joe Ajaero

President NLC

Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja, mni

General Secretary

TUC:

Comrade (Engr) Festus Osifo

President

Comrade Nuhu A. Toro

Secretary General

Federal Government:

H.E. Simon Bako Lalong

Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment

Hon. Dr Nkeiruka Onyejeocha

Honourable Minister of State for Labour and Employment

Mallam Mohammed Idris

Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has faulted the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to float the FX market, arguing that the Nigerian government cannot float a currency it doesn’t supply.

He also took a swipe at the way the Federal Government removed the fuel subsidy. The former Anambra State governor said the government should have removed the criminality and corruption that characterized the implementation of the fuel subsidy policy rather than the subsidy itself. He criticized the Tinubu-led government for removing the fuel subsidy without having adequate and properly structured palliatives put in place to cushion its effects on Nigerians.

Peter Obi said this during an interview on an AriseTV News programme, Morning Show, on Monday, where he explained that he would have devalued the naira instead of floating it.

He said “You can’t float a currency you don’t have supply… It’s like building a non-gated house in a criminal-ridden society. You have to have a defense mechanism. Nobody floats what you don’t have a supply of.

“Nobody floats his currency without having adequate supply. When you don’t have adequate supply, there were pressures, there was criminality in our exchange rate regime. Again, we should have worked on eliminating those criminality and excesses in our foreign exchange regime because there are strong unmet demands.

“The naira was under pressure and a bit overvalued, everybody knew that. So, what he would have done was to devalue the currency. We were at N412 before now.

“Devaluation to about N600 or thereabout will have been it, while trying to manage the supply by making sure that we deal with issues. What controls your exchange rate? It’s a simple thing, it’s your reserve. And what controls your reserve is your export. You have avenues and things that you will have exported; you’re supposed to export from your oil to other minerals to everything.”

Talking about the removal of fuel subsidy, Obi said “We are suffering from what is called, ANNOUNCEMENT EFFECT. The removal of fuel subsidy was not thought through. It showed limited thinking, that’s why it’s having limited outcomes.”

Obi said the best approach would have been to collaborate with various stakeholders to find a way to remove the fuel subsidy in an organized manner and ensure that the proceeds from its removal would be invested in critical development areas. He added that he would have removed the excess demand that is not factual, thereby reducing our fuel consumption in the country by 50%.

He said, “I have always said we are consuming far above what we should be consuming. Our consumption is just about half of what it is. For me, the approach would have been to remove the corruption and criminal side of the fuel subsidy.

“Remove the excess demand that is not factual and by doing this, you would have reduced it to like 50%. The remaining 50% is what would have been able to, after consultations with various stakeholders, find a way in an organized manner, to remove and ensure the proceeds of the removal are invested in a critical development area.

“When you do it in an organized manner, with proper palliatives that are well structured, not done haphazardly, you would have been able to see Nigerians go along with you.

“Policies like this are not what you just announce haphazardly. They are things you talk through and that’s what we would have done in the Labour Party.

“What this government has been doing since inception, are announcements with limited thinking which again produces limited outcomes. There must be a coordination between the federal, the state and the local governments in trying to pull through this difficult time.”

The Labour Party’s candidate emphasized the need to reduce the use of the US dollar within Nigeria to strengthen the Naira. He noted that the US dollar has become widely circulated in the country, almost like an underground currency. By reducing reliance on foreign currencies and promoting the use of the Naira, the candidate believes that Nigeria can work towards stabilizing its currency and improving economic conditions.

“The dollar has become what you can call an underground currency of our economy. it shouldn’t be. We have a currency called Naira. All these things that people are using dollar to do which is not productive should be removed and I can tell you it will strengthen the currency.

“Today if people want to do a party primary, they would share dollar. That is not our country’s currency and that should warrant a penalty,” he said.

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