Senate meets NLC, says issues will be resolved soon

dimeji akinloye

May 19, 2016 9:38 PM

Saraki said the National Assembly will ensure labour returns to the negotiation table with the Federal Government.

Senate meets with NLC over fuel price hike strike.

The Senate on Thursday, May 19, intervened in the ongoing disagreement between the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Federal Government over the recent fuel price increase in the country.

The leadership of the upper chamber led by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, met with the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba and his team to deliberate on the agitations of labour.

Speaking to newsmen after the meeting, Saraki said the issues will soon be resolved in the interest of the people.

He said the National Assembly will ensure labour returns to the negotiation table with the Federal Government towards quick and smooth resolution of the disagreement.

“I want to give a word of encouragement to Nigerians that I am confident that our efforts here in the National Assembly will go a long way to resolve this issue once and for all," Saraki said.

“I am happy to report that the NLC has shown their commitment to continue to dialogue with the Federal Government and our role is to see that we can facilitate that. We shall continue with the dialogue and we will surely address the issue. I am sure that when the Labour leaders leave here, they are going to meet with their members and other stakeholders on the way forward.

“We in the Senate will continue to play our role in facilitating and ensuring that we can find a lasting solution and to reduce the hardship of the present economic realities on the masses and at the end of the day, I believe that we will all act in the interest of the people,” he addded.

The NLC had commenced an indefinite strike on Wednesday, May 18, after its negotiation with the government failed irrevocably last Friday.

Wabba-led NLC is demanding that the government reverts the price of petrol back to N86.50 from the current N145.

READ: NLC Strike - Wabba faction threatens to ground flights in Lagos

The labour leader had lamented that while negotiations were still ongoing concerning the increase in electricity tariff, the government went further to increase the price of petrol.

He denied media reports that the Union walked out on government during negotiation last week, noting that the representatives of the Federal Government asked the NLC to excuse them after both parties failed to reach an agreement.

dimeji akinloye