Peter Esele, a former president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), claims that the Federal Government has not done enough to prevent organized labor from going on strike and protesting the removal of fuel subsidies.
Labour has been pushing for palliatives for Nigerians to lessen the impact of the removal of fuel subsidies. Following the failure of negotiations with the government, it has threatened to stage a protest and go on strike on Wednesday.
In response to the situation, Esele argued that the government has not gone far enough to meet the demands of the labor during Sunday Politics on Channels Television.
“I am at a loss why at this point in time the Federal Government would have allowed labour to go ahead and issue an ultimatum because right now it will be very difficult for Ajaero to back out; if he backs out he is going to be accused of selling out.
“And the other option for the government is that they should come out and say ‘This is what we are doing’. You just saw one of their demands which is that government should invest in CNG.
“I also have my worry about the protest and the strike but the challenge now is that even the organised labour will be up against the leadership for them to do something. So, the Federal Government has not done enough in allowing labour to go this far,” Esele said.
Representatives of organised labour on Friday walked out of a meeting with the Federal Government (FG)’s team on palliatives.
The meeting was supposed to be a continuation of their deliberations on palliatives to cushion the effect of subsidy removal in the country.
The labour team, which was led by the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, did not speak to journalists as they made their way from the venue of the meeting.