Fuel Crisis: FG Moves to Stop Nationwide Strike, Meets With Labour

Fuel Crisis: FG Moves to Stop Nationwide Strike, Meets With Labour

In order to avert the nationwide strike labour unions threatened will commence this week over the hike in the price of petrol, the federal government will on Monday, Today, meet with officials of the organised labour in Abuja.

The meeting, which is billed to hold at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, will attempt to persuade the labour to shelve its planned strike, the Punch is reporting.

The government recently announced the hike in the price of petrol from N86.50 to N145

The organised labour has given government up until Tuesday to revert to the old price or face a general shutdown of the businesses in the country.

“The Federal Government does not want strike, we will discuss. Government is making every effort to ensure that there is no strike,” the source stated.

Meanwhile, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) on Sunday warned Nigerians not to allow labour deceive them again over the increase in petrol price.

CNPP said it does not trust the labour unions as they are compromised.

It said the planned strike wouldn’t last beyond Friday.

In a statement jointly signed on Sunday by its National Chairman, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, and the Secretary-General, Chief Willy Ezugwu the CNPP said, “What the labour unions are doing now by calling for a strike was what they did in 2012 during the Occupy Nigeria protests in response to similar increase in the pump price of petrol under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

“The labour unions later scuttled the action by purportedly entering into an agreement with the then government on behalf of Nigerians and ended up fixing the pump price of petrol at N97.00 per litre.

“We have it on good authority that the labour leaders have been compromised.

‘‘Recall that the labour leaders were at a meeting, where the decision to inflict more and more pains on the already impoverished Nigerian people by increasing the pump price was taken and never protested against it. Why the sudden U-turn by the same labour leaders?”

it however added that the increasing hardship enthroned on Nigerians by the current government could not be tolerated.

“The Federal Government and its labour collaborators must be told that the CNPP, the masses and the civil society shall occupy Nigeria until the reversal of the pump price of petrol. Enough of more and more suffering under the guise of fuel subsidy removal,” the statement added.