The meeting between the federal government and the organised labour over the recent hike in the pump price of petroleum and electricity tariff has been adjourned to Monday.
This is to enable the federal government do a proper consultation on the pump price of petrol with labour insisting on the reversal of the price.
Both parties had reconvened on Thursday evening, days after the labour leaders walked out of another parley with the federal government to discuss the matter.
In his opening remarks during the meeting in Abuja, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, said Sunday’s event was not a walkout but a recess.
He insisted that both parties – the Federal Government and the labour unions – were working for the betterment of the nation.
Ngige stressed that the issues at stake, which included the hike in electricity tariff and the price of petrol, do not only affect the citizens but also those on the government’s side.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, who was also at the meeting, addressed the labour leaders.
He gave an assurance that the government would ensure that resolutions reached would be for the benefit of the Nigerian people.
Mustapha also thanked the labour leaders for their show of patriotism, stressing that what happened on Sunday was a recess and not a breakdown of discussions.
On his part, TUC President, Peter Esele, stressed the need for sincerity on the part of the government to enable the meeting to arrive at a logical conclusion.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, was absent at the meeting, but he was represented by the General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Joe Ajaero.
Ajaero disagreed with the remarks of the labour minister and the SGF that the last meeting was a recess, insisting that it did not end peacefully.
He also insisted that the agenda for discussion should be presented for adoption before going forward.
Others in attendance include the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo; the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva; and the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouk.
