I’m new, give me time, Tinubu begs NLC against embarking on strike

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has pleaded with the Nigerian Labour Congress to give his administration more time to resolve their complaints rather than going on strike.

Tajudeen Abbas, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, made this revelation after going with other members of his leadership to advise the president on the results of their negotiations with the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which had called for statewide strike action.

The president pleaded that he was new in office and needed time to analyse the difficulties being presented by workers over which he is yet not briefed, the speaker said in response to questions from State House media after the meeting to also introduce new leadership of the House.

He claimed that after NARD announced their intention to strike, the House leadership invited them and claimed that they were successful in convincing the union to abandon its plans.

According to Abbas, the visit to the presidential residence on Wednesday served to inform the President of the developments regarding the doctors association.

“Yesterday’s visit was primarily to brief Mr President on our engagement with National Residents Doctors Association whom we got wind were planning to embark on strike. So, we invited them and we persuaded to withdraw that plan. Sequel to the meetings we had with them, there were series of conditions that they gave that we felt that we need to share with Mr President. And that is what brought me yesterday, to intimate him on what we have discussed and the agreements so far reached them and issues that they have raised that need his attention,” Mr Abbas said.

“And today’s visit, as you can see, we are together, the whole leadership of the House is here. Since our election, as leaders of 10th House of Representatives, we didn’t come formally to present them to Mr President. So, today, we requested for this audience primarily to bring and introduce them for him to get to know them and for them to get to know him. That’s just what we are here for.”

“Well, it’s a work in progress. I’m sure some of the issues that they have raised, if we can be able to meet some of their expectations halfway of which we are on it, we already set up an adhoc committee chaired by the Majority Leader of the House to look at those issues. I’m sure one or two interventions in their areas of concern, we will prevail on them to come back to the negotiating table and also accept to withdraw that strike.“Yeah, what he said was that he was just coming on board. We should ask and beg them to please give us a little more time. Most of the things they mentioned, he is completely unaware of them. He is yet to be briefed about all those issues. But from what he heard from me, he also advised that we should channel all those issues to his Chief of Staff for him to look at them one after the other. I believe within the next coming days, some concerted actions will be taken.”

In response to a query on what the House would do to prevent the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) from starting its protest on August 2 if anti-people policies were not changed beyond the residents physicians’ strike, the speaker said: “In the same manner, same way, we will also invite them to come and sit so that we hear their grievances and then we follow the same pattern of engaging and persuading them to give us a little time so that we can be able to meet their expectations.”

The Federal Government is meeting with the leadership of organised labour to avoid a strike, according to Ms. Olu Verheijin, Special Adviser to the President on Energy.

She made her statement following a meeting of the National Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) leadership-led Steering Committee on Palliatives for the Federal Government.

FG’s delegation was led by Verheijen during the meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja as they continued their discussions on palliatives to lessen the impact of subsidy elimination.

She added that the steering committee meeting was focused on how stakeholders could expedite interventions that would bring relief, particularly around Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), mass transportation, cleaner energy, transportation, and minimising the impact of the cost of transportation. She said the labour unions would speak on the threat of the NLC to protest.