Consumers rushed to buy petrol on Tuesday after newly-elected President Bola Tinubu announced the end to Nigeria's costly fuel subsidies
AFP

The Federal Government has called the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) for a meeting today over the indefinite strike planned over the removal of the fuel subsidy.

Federal Minister of Labour and Employment of Nigeria, Simon Bako, Lalong invited NLC for another meeting, the Director of Information, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun disclosed on Sunday, Punch reported.

"The minister, who directed the Department of Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations to convene a meeting with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress for Monday, September 18, 2023, said it was important that the unions sit with the government to resolve all pending matters to avert further disruption to the economy," Oshundun said.

He explained that the administration of President Bola Tinubu is always willing to engage with organized labor and resolve their issues after "due consultation and negotiations in order to guarantee industrial harmony, which is critical to the attainment of the Renewed Hope Agenda."

A source revealed that the labor union is looking forward to attending the meeting on Monday with the federal government, noting that the union wants to listen to what the government has to offer them.

Previously, Minister Lalong planned a meeting on Sept. 4 to appeal to the NLC to suspend the planned strike.

However, NLC did not attend the meeting and insisted on carrying on with a two-day strike across the country on Sept. 5 and 6. Although the Trade Union Congress (TUC) did attend the meeting with the government on Sept. 4.

The strike was announced on Sept. 1 due to hardships Nigerians are facing following subsidy removal.

At that time many unions participated in the two-day strike including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), non-teaching staff of universities, National Union of Banks, and Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE).

The day the strike was announced, the President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu acknowledged the hardship Nigerians are facing and assured them that with "patience and determination" the country will succeed.

The subsidy removal was announced by President Tinubu on May 29 and since then, Nigerians faced skyrocketed prices of fuel and food.

Talking about the negative impact of the subsidy removal, in some places youngsters looted government warehouses for food and non-food items.

The looters were outraged over skyrocketing food and fuel prices in Nigeria. Aside from this, subsidy removal also caused companies like Uber to raise their prices to survive.

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