The Nigeria Labour Congress led by Mr. Ayuba Wabba and the Federal
Government will resume the suspended talks on the N145 fuel pump price
on Wednesday (today).
The Director in charge of Press at the
Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr. Samuel Olowookere, said in a
statement on Tuesday that the meeting would hold by 2pm at the
Conference Hall of Office of the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation.
An invitation to the NLC to return to the
negotiation table over the contentious increase in electricity tariff
and the fuel pump price was delayed on Monday by the Ministry of Labour
as a result of a scheduled meeting with the Petroleum and Natural Gas
Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, which served a week-old strike
notice on the government.
The NLC had called off the indefinite
strike it called to protest fuel price hike on Sunday as a result of the
intervention of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress,
Asiwaju Bola TInubu.
While the strike was on, the Minister of
Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, had said that the Federal
Government would only resume the suspended talks with the Labour leaders
if the strike was suspended.
Also, Olowookere said that the
plan by PENGASSAN to embark on a nationwide strike by the midnight of
Tuesday was suspended following the intervention of Ngige and the
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.
He
said Kachikwu briefed the conciliatory meeting on the issue of the Joint
Venture Cash Call, the arrears of which had not been paid to the Joint
Venture Partners which made the oil firms to issue a threat to lay off
workers as a result of shortage of cash.
The minister was quoted
as saying that the Petroleum Ministry was “restructuring the operational
modalities of the Joint Venture Cash Call especially in view of the low
oil prices.”
He was said to have assured the union, the JVCC
partners and other stakeholders of some positive results during the next
meeting scheduled for June.
“We all recall that this committee
was headed by the late Hon. Min. of State for Labour and Employment, Mr.
James Ocholi, but in view of the importance and the urgency of the
committee, I will assume its full leadership in June to accelerate and
bring its assignment to fruitful completion, part of which is to pass
some oil-labour regulations into laws for the Petroleum Industry Bill,”
Kachikwu was quoted as saying.