Mohammed Shosanya
President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Festus Osifo has said that Nigerian workers are running out of patience, on account of the recent subsidy removal by the federal government.
Osifo spoke on Tuesday, during a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong in his office.
He decried the seeming inaction of the government towards addressing the grievances of the workers on the country.
He acknowledged the fact that the President was away in the United States, attending the United Nations General Assembly, but noted that they expect the government to within the next two weeks wrap up effective palliative scheme to douse pressures.
“We as TUC appreciate the efforts of the Minister but there has to be more action than promises because workers are getting more inpatient due to hardship occasioned by the removal of subsidy.
“Workers are facing enormous pressures that are making life very difficult, which makes the leadership of TUC to have sleepless nights.
“We hope that between the next two weeks, the President would have done everything possible to arrive at a conclusion which the workers are eager to hear in order to douse the tension and threat for withdrawal of services by workers,” Osifo reiterated when they met with the Minister.
Briefing the TUC officials on efforts being made by the Federal Government to address their grievances, Lalong said after their last meeting, he met with the President to highlight some of the issues raised by the Labour union.
He implored the TUC to exercise more patience, explaining that before the President left for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, he was fully briefed and gave further directives on implementation of issues put before him, particularly when he personally met with the labour leaders.
Before the meeting went into a closed door session, the Minister thanked the TUC for accepting to come for the briefing, which showed that they were committed to the Nigerian project and are open to dialogue for greater industrial harmony.
