TUC Rejects Tinubu’s Fuel Subsidy Removal: Demands Robust Dialogue, Consultation

• The TUC has rejected the removal of fuel subsidy announced by President Bola Tinubu during his swearing-in ceremony.

• TUC demands robust dialogue and consultation with stakeholders before taking action on such an issue.

• They also urge the Tinubu administration to involve organized labour, employers of labour, professional organizations, and the informal sector in their promised review of security architecture, job creation, food security and ending extreme poverty.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has rejected President Bola Tinubu’s announcement to remove fuel subsidy during his swearing-in ceremony on Monday. In a statement by its President and Secretary-General, Festus Osifo and Nuhu Toro, respectively, TUC warned that the removal of fuel subsidy is a joke taken too far.

TUC expressed its delight at the peaceful transition from the Muhammad Buhari government to the Bola Tinubu administration. However, they challenged those who are contesting the election results across the board to follow the rule of law in seeking redress.

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While assessing the President’s inaugural speech, TUC expressed concern over the announcement to withdraw the subsidy on petroleum products. They demanded that President Tinubu should tarry awhile to give room for robust dialogue and consultation with stakeholders, including professionals, market people, students, and the poor masses before taking action on such a sensitive issue.

TUC acknowledged that the removal of fuel subsidy touches on the lives, if not very survival, of particularly the working people. Therefore, it ought to have been treated with utmost caution, preceded by robust dialogue and consultation.

TUC expressed worry that President Tinubu failed to reveal his plans on how to tackle and address the issue of poor and unchecked deterioration in industrial relations, particularly in the education, health, and judiciary sectors, often resulting in prolonged strike and industrial actions and their attendant adverse effects on society and the economy.

TUC urged the new administration to address the abysmal N30,000 minimum wage that has since been eroded by the problematic monetary and fiscal policies of the government.

Congress welcomed the promise to make electricity accessible and affordable to businesses and homes. TUC suggested that the Tinubu government begins by stopping the periodic arbitrary increases in the price of electricity imposed by the distribution companies while regulatory and consumer agencies look away.

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TUC pledged to stand by the people and their interests, urging the Tinubu administration to involve organized labour, employers of labour, professional organizations, and the informal sector in its promised review of security architecture, job creation, food security and ending extreme poverty.

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