By Williams Anuku, Abuja
The strike called by the organised labour, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress has been suspended.
The suspension followed an agreement between Labour and Government sides agreeing that deregulation of the downstream oil sector stays while the Government take steps to rolls out palliatives for Labour within two weeks.
They all came to a compromise at a marathon meeting which held at the presidential villa, Abuja till the early hours on Monday, where they resolved that electricity tariffs be suspended by government for 2 weeks with a joint Committee headed by Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo to examine the justification for the new policy.
To this end, all parties agreed on the urgency for increasing the local refining capacity of the nation to reduce the over dependence on importation of petroleum products to ensure energy security, reduce cost of finished products, increase employment and business opportunities for Nigerians.
To address, the NNPC is expected to expedite the rehabilitation of the nations four refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna and to achieve 50% completion for Port Harcourt by December 2021, while timelines and delivery for Warri and Kaduna will be established by the inclusive Steering Committee.
Moreover, while the deregulation policy stays, government is to ensure Commitment and transparency to the processes and timelines of the rehabilitation exercise, while the management of NNPC will integrate the national leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) into the Steering Committee already established by the Corporation.
“A Validation team comprising the representatives of the NNPC, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), NUPENG and PENGASSAN will be established to monitor progress of the rehabilitation of the refineries and the pipelines/strategic depots network and advice the Steering Committee periodically.
“Post rehabilitation, NNPC shall involve the PENGASSAN and NUPENG in the process of establishing the operational model of the Nations refineries.
“The Federal Government will facilitate the delivery of licensed modular and regular refineries, involvement of upstream companies in petroleum refining and establishing framework for financing in the downstream sector.
“NNPC will expedite work on the Build Operate and Transfer framework for the nations pipelines and strategic depots network for efficient transportation and distribution of Petroleum products to match the delivery timelines of the refineries as agreed.
“The Federal Government and its agencies to ensure delivery of 1 million CNG/LPG AutoGas conversion kits, storage skids and dispensing units under the Nigeria Gas Expansion Programme by December 2021 to enable delivery of cheaper transportation and power fuel. A Governance Structure that will include representatives of organized Labour shall be established for timely delivery”.
Other interventions which culminated in the suspension of the strike was an agreement was to cushion the impacts of the downstream sector deregulation and tariffs adjustment in the power sector, where the Federal Government will implement the following:
“A specific amount to be unveiled by the FGN in two weeks time will be isolated from the Economic Sustainability Programme Intervention Fund and be accessed by Nigerian Workers with subsequent provision for 240,000 under the auspices of NLC and TUC for participation in agricultural ventures through the CBN and the Ministry of Agriculture. The timeline will be fixed at the next meeting.
“Federal Government will facilitate the removal of tax on minimum wage as a way of cushioning the impacts of the policy on the lowest vulnerable.
“Federal Government will make available to organized labour 133 CNG/LPG driven mass transit buses immediately and provide to the major cities across the Country on a scale up basis thereafter to all States and Local Governments before December 2021.
“Housing: 10% be allocated to Nigerian workers under the ongoing Ministry of Housing and Finance initiative through the NLC and TUC.
“Consequently, the NLC and TUC agreed to suspend the planned industrial action, “a joint communique issued after the meeting stated.
