I need more time to address grievances, I’m still new – Tinubu to organised labour

President Bola Tinubu Wednesday appealed to the members of the organised labour to give him more time address their grievances and demands.

This was disclosed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives Mr Tajudeen Abbas while fielding questions from State House correspondents after he led principal officers of the House of Representatives to brief the President on the outcome of their meeting with the members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) over their nationwide industrial action.

The Speaker said President Tinubu appealed that he is new in office and needs time to evaluate the issues that are being raised by workers.

“What he said is that he’s just coming on board. We should ask them and beg them to please give him a little more time. The things that 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 some of those issues to the Chief of Staff to look at them one after the other. I believe the next coming days, some concerted actions will be taken,” he said.

He said the leadership of the House of Representatives invited officials of the NARD following threats to embark on strike.

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He said the lawmakers have succeeded in persuading the aggrieved medical personnel to shelve the planned strike.

“Sequel to the meeting we had with them, there were series of conditions that they gave, that we felt we need to share with the president.

“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.

“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,” he said.

Asked what the House of Representatives was doing to halt the August 2, 2023 planned strike by organised labour represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUCN), 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.”

Meanwhile, the President of Nigeria Labour Congress Mr Joe Ajaero said the congress would go ahead with the August 2, 2023 if the federal government fails to ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy.

The NLC President told State House correspondents after a meeting the Steering Committee on Palliatives led by the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen.

“The outcome is very brief. We met based on N520 increase and the committee that was set based on that and we agreed to work to realise the objectives that was set during the last moment.

“The two centers have made their position known and is before Nigerians, the TUC, the NLC, our position is known. And it’s public knowledge.

“Well, policies? I wouldn’t know, we are going ahead with the protest because we have to be emphatic on what we put in our communique, to say we’re commencing protests from August 2.”

Also speaking, President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria Mr Festus Osifo the organised labour was not satisfied with some of the issues raised at the meeting.

“We’ve had a meeting and the meeting majorly is to listen to the presentations that is coming from the Secretariat of the steering committee, so they have made presentation to us. We made our robust inputs into it.

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“Some of the things they presented we did not agree with them. So the areas we did not agree, we also made our imputes known because when you come to such meeting it is for government or its representatives to do a presentation. But it’s left for us to either agree or disagree.

“So during the meeting, we gave them sufficient feedback. And they also agreed to go and look at those feedbacks and get back to us on Friday,” he said.

Aldo speaking, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy Ms Olu Verheijen who spoke on behalf of the government said progress had been made in the discussion.

“We’ve agreed to continue to make progress. It was a very productive meeting. The focus was really around how we fasttrack a lot of the interventions that will bring relief, particularly around CNG, mass transportation, cleaner energy, transportation, and reduce the impact of the cost of transportation, the increased cost of transportation.

“So we’ve made good progress. And we’re going to continue to do so and so that we can start rolling out these opportunities and this relief and measures as quickly as possible.”

On why government is dragging its feet in rolling out palliatives, she said: “We have to get it right. It’s important that we do this well, and we keep our promises. So, it’s important that whatever is announced actually gets done. Because we don’t want to make big announcements that will continue to lose people’s trust.

“It’s important that we build trust, and that most of the announcements and the plans that we roll out are credible and impactful. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is working assiduously to address all of these issues. And as quickly as he can.

“He’s very empathetic, he is concerned about it, as you’ve seen all of us working round the clock here to make sure that we are able to announce these measures as quickly as possible. It’s a whole package of issues that we’re rolling out as quickly as possible.”

I need more time to address grievances, I’m still new – Tinubu to organised labour