TUC: FG not serious about agreement with labour | Wage award was only paid twice

Festus Osifo, president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), says the federal government is not serious about implementing the agreement signed with the labour unions.

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television on Friday, Osifo said the unions cannot pick a “particular item of agreement” that the federal government has fulfilled satisfactorily.

On Thursday, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the TUC issued a 14-day ultimatum to the federal government over the rising cost of living in the country.

The unions said the government has failed to honour the 16-point agreement that was reached on October 2, 2023.

The agreement focused on the payment of a N35,000 wage award to workers for six months, the inauguration of a committee on minimum wage review, and the provision of buses powered by compressed natural gas (CNG), among others.

‘WAGE AWARD ONLY PAID TWICE’

Osifo said some workers got the N35,000 wage award only once, while some got it twice.

The TUC president said despite the unions’ engagement with the federal government, the terms of the agreement were not fulfilled.

He said the federal government only inaugurated the minimum wage committee recently.

“We talked about wage awards. They said implementation will start in September. The first N35,000 was paid sometime in November,” he said.

“When they paid it in November, we counted it for September. In December, nothing was done. In fact, most federal civil servants did not even get their December salaries as of December. How much more of the N35,000 wage award?

“At the end of January, they paid some agencies an additional one month. Only two months have been paid to some people, and in some cases, just one month.”

The TUC president wondered if the demands of organised labour were being transmitted to President Bola Tinubu.

“I cannot really pinpoint one particular item that they have implemented,” he added.

“Is it the CNG buses? Is the issue of NURTW and RTEAN? Is the issue of the N35,000 wage bill? We can’t pinpoint what the government has done satisfactorily.

“As of today, we feel they are not serious with us. They are not serious with implementing what they have signed with us. Maybe, the information is not reaching the president. We don’t know.”