FG Must Negotiate with Organised Labour to Avert Crisis, Says Sani

•Faults Senate screening of El-Rufai 

Emma Okonji and Nosa Alekhuogie

A former lawmaker who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Shehu Sani, has called for understanding between the federal government and the organised labour in addressing issues that compelled labour to embark on a nationwide protest yesterday.

Sani, who spoke yesterday on ARISE NEWS Channel, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers, said the organised labour decided to carry out a nationwide strike because of the removal of fuel subsidy and the dire consequences of the subsidy removal that has adversely affected Nigerians and the Nigerian economy.

“Before now, the government has been subsidising imported petroleum products and this has continued for so long because the government was unable to get our refineries working.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu eventually put an end to the fuel subsidy regime, which the past governments were not able to achieve. For the first time, the organised labour and the federal government agreed that fuel subsidy has to stop, but the bone of contention is in the implementation of policies that will cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal, in the area of palliative measures.

“The organised labour is asking for immediate, short and long term measures that will cushion the effect but the federal government is asking for more time to address the issue of palliatives to cushion the effect. The truth is that the Tinubu government is at its infancy stage and has no minister that will intercede on behalf of the government in the contending issue,” Sani said. 

According to him, the Chief of Staff to President Tinubu and the Spokesman to President Tinubu cannot negotiate with the organised labour on the issue of fuel subsidy removal.

“There has to be a ministry that is represented by a minister to negotiate with the organised labour and that cannot happen now because the Tinubu-led government has not appointed its ministers.

“So that is the issue at hand, but the organised labour is not seeing it that way. They only felt that the Tinubu government was not ready to negotiate with organised labour, Sani further said. 

“To me, the national protest embarked by organised labour yesterday, was only a signal to warn the government and to make the government act fast on the demands of labour.

“The federal government on its part failed to put the adequate measures in place that will cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal, before announcing the removal, but I believe the government will do the right thing to ameliorate the sufferings of the common Nigerians.

“The nationwide protest embarked upon by organised labour is a way of exercising its fundamental human rights, which is part of democracy, but I also think that after the protest, labour should go back to the negotiating table with the federal government,” Sani said. 

Reacting to the demands of the organised labour, which included upward review of minimum wage; repair of refineries in Nigeria, among others, Sani said the demands were legitimate and that the federal government will have no reason to fault the demands.

He however said lack of communication gap had been the major challenge of organised labour, whom he said felt that the government was not willing to listen to them.

Sani also expressed his disappointment over the ongoing screening of political nominees by the Senate. He was particularly worried that most of the nominees screened were not properly grilled and made reference to the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai, whom he said, ought to have been properly grilled to explain some issues hanging around him.

“The political nominees are going to represent Nigerians in trust and therefore, should be properly screened in the full glare of all.

“When a political nominee appears before the United State Congress, such nominee is asked questions that even borders on his or her family matters, including what he or she has said or done in the past and when in office, but we did not see that with the screening of El Rufai.

“He was only asked to take a bow and leave without the right screening. What is happening at the National Assembly in Nigeria is rather unfortunate,” Sani said.

According to him, “the Senate has a duty to properly screen all political nominees, irrespective of whether the nominee is a candidate of the president of Nigeria.” 

Sani referred to El Rufai as a divisive figure that promotes ethnicity and religious bigotry.