* Propose stakeholders’ engagement
Some labour leaders say there is need for all stakeholders in the oil sector, including government, to analyse the issue of fuel subsidy removal mentioned by the new President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in his inaugural speech.
Tinubu, after taking office on Monday, said the budget in place before his coming on board made no provision for fuel subsidy, declaring that it is gone.
The President commended the decision by the Buhari administration to phase out the petrol subsidy regime, saying it had increasingly favoured the rich more than the poor.
“Subsidy can no longer justify its ever-increasing costs in the wake of drying resources. We shall instead re-channel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, health care and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions,” he said.
Labour leaders argued that the issue needs a holistic approach.
The National Deputy President of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Mr. Tommy Okon, said there has to be stakeholders engagement, in which Organised Labour is one.
“So, we cannot just comment on it until we are engaged, but we have made our position known in our charter of demand to remove fuel subsidies.
“So, it will not be a one-off respone because organised labour are partners in progress; they need to sit down and discuss and agree before that is done to avoid industrial unrest,” Okon said.
Also, the Secretary-General of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSEN), Mr. Lumumba Okugbawa, said stakeholders would sit to analyse the situation and proffer the way forward, in the interest of the country.
“We need to analyse the situation; sit with stakeholders including government, and see the way forward.
“This is pending when our local refineries, which have been our major point, that once we produce locally, all these issues about subsidy removal will not be there.
“Once we produce locally, not that the price will not be there, but at least, it will be reduced,” Okugbawa said.
On his part, the Secretary-General of TUC, Mr. Nuhu Toho, said the union would issue a statement in reaction to some of the issues raised in the president’s inaugural speech.
- NAN