Reps asks labour unions to suspend strike

The house of representatives has asked the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to suspend their planned industrial action pending the outcome of its intervention.

At a special session on Monday, the house resolved to constitute an ad hoc committee to interface with the labour unions and stakeholders in the oil sector to find a solution to the impasse.

Last Saturday, the labour unions gave the federal government a three-day ultimatum to reverse the price of petrol from N145 to N86.5 to avoid an indefinite strike.

But on Monday, the lower legislative chamber intervened through a motion moved by Ossai Osag, from Edo state, urging an ad hoc committee of the house to “jaw-jaw” with labour leaders.

Earlier, Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, was in the house to explain the reason for the hike in the price of petrol.

He had said that the new price regime was a consequence of the falling foreign exchange earnings of the government.

He said the government was not unmindful of the pain of Nigerians, hence it had created palliatives to cushion the effect of the hike in petrol price.

“The problems of the oil industry is immense. Infrastructure is key. Our pipelines are 35 years old,” he had said.

“The time has now to come to invest in infrastructure. The Buhari government is a solution seeking government. We are solving problems that have been there for many years.”

The minister took a few questions from the lawmakers after which he took a bow and left.