– Kaigama says salaries would have been delayed

– He says Nigeria would have shut down if TUC had joined the strike

– He gives reasons for supporting the new price regime

If the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had insisted that the federal government reverts to N86.50, the old pump price for premium motor spirit or petrol, its members would have further suffered non-payment of their salaries.

This was disclosed by the president of the labour body, Bobboi Kaigama in Jalingo, Taraba state, The Express News reports.
Comrade Bobboi Kaigama, TUC President
Kaigama said members of the TUC would not have been paid for another two months if government had hearkened to the demand to return the price from N145 to the old price per litre.

The Ayuba Wabba faction of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had embarked on strike after its meeting with the federal government failed. The TUC had being part of the meeting.

Many Nigerians had thought the TUC was part of the industrial action but Kaigama said the body backed out after it carried out an overview of the situation of the country.

He said the country’s economy would have collapsed if the union had insisted on N86.50 or decided to join NLC in the strike.

He said the old price regime became practically unsustainable as the TUC learnt from the government at one of the meetings.

Kaigama said: “Our economy is heavily dependent on crude oil sales and in the figures presented to us NNPC made N550 billions on sales of crude and only N50 billions was remitted to the Federation Account.

“The chunk of N500 billions was used to import refined petroleum products.

“That was the reason why the three tiers of government in the last federation account meeting shared what was considered to be the least to be shared in the last 16 years.

“If we had insisted on the N86.50, our members would not receive salaries in the next two months.

“So, when we saw this position. Instead of remaining dogmatic, we opted for negotiation on how to move forward to avoid the collapse of the economy.”

Instead of the strike, Kaigama said the union signed an agreement with the government to address the issues of minimum wage and palliatives for Nigerians.

This, he said, would cushion the effect of the price increase.

He added: “We also signed an agreement for the reconstitution of the board of Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to include members of organised labour so that we can monitor the template for the distribution of petroleum products from depots to the retail outlet.

“Part of that agreement was that all refineries must be brought to life and enabling environment provided for modular refineries to operate around the existing refineries.

“These modular refineries, we belief would go a long way to help in the supply of our local consumption need.”

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had on Sunday, May 22, called off the nationwide strike.

Speaking to journalists, the president of the NLC, Ayuba Wabba said the union is calling off the strike after several deliberations.

Wabba said the decision to call off the strike came after an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council of the NLC.


This is the real reason why TUC backed out of the flopped strike of last week https://www.naij.com/838023-real-reason-tuc-backed-flopped-strike-last-week.html

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