The Organised Labour says its nationwide strike to protest the removal of petroleum subsidy will proceed as planned.
The strike is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
The unions, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC), spoke after a meeting with government representatives at the presidential villa on Monday.
Read Also: Your Salary Review Is Coming — Tinubu Reveals Ongoing Talks With Organized Labour
The unions expressed doubt regarding the ability of President Bola Tinubu to effectively control inflation and gasoline prices due to the unification of the exchange rate.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, spoke with State House reporters after another round of meeting of the Presidential Steering Committee on Palliatives at the presidential villa, Abuja.
He said the plan for workers to proceed on a peaceful protest from Wednesday has not changed.
Ajaero, who dismissed fears that the peaceful protest could be hijacked by hoodlums, said such had never happened in the history of workers’ protest.
He, however, said it was the responsibility of security agencies to provide security for the protest to protect the workers.
The NLC boss also expressed doubts about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ability to control inflation and gasoline prices due to the unification of the exchange rate.
He said the meeting of the Steering Committee adjourned till 12noon on Tuesday to enable the labour leaders to listen to the president’s national broadcast on Monday.
Reacting to Tinubu’s plan to intervene on exchange rate over inflation and high cost of gasoline prices, Ajaero said: “By the time you have a single market and you are not having anything that has a comparative advantage, your energy is import driven, then how are you going to control it? How are you going to control somebody that exchanged dollar at about 900 (naira)? Are you going to tell him to sell below the price?
“How are you going to tell even NEPA today, with the cost of production not to increase tariff? Even corn in the villages that was sold at N18,000 by February, now it’s about 56,000. How are you going to control it?”
