KEY POINTS

• NLC President Joe Ajaero accuses Tinubu of breaking his promise not to raise fuel prices.
• Tinubu offered a choice between a N250,000 wage or no increase in fuel prices.
• Labor leaders chose N70,000 minimum wage, citing public hardship over rising fuel costs.

According to the Nigeria Labour Congress, President Bola Tinubu betrayed organized labor on Thursday by using the price of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as gasoline, as an enticement. 

President Tinubu, who has assured them that he wouldn’t raise the price of gasoline during the negotiations that resulted in their acceptance of N70,000.

This was said by NLC President Joe Ajaero at the commencement of the “Minimum Wage Implementation Workshop, Southern Zone,” a two-day training held in Lagos. 

Ajaero claimed that accusations of “cybercrime, financing terrorism, sponsoring terrorism and the rest” were attempts to divert the labor movement’s focus.

Ajaero urged the government to act swiftly to tackle the critical issues of hunger, poverty, and discontent affecting Nigerians, pointing out that rising gasoline costs have wiped out the benefits of the N70,000 national minimum wage

Ajaero’s recollection of Tinubu’s fuel price alternatives

Ajaero recalled speaking with President Tinubu before accepting the N70,000 minimum wage, when the President offered the choice to accept the wage without any further increases in gasoline costs.

Alternatively, he continued, the president had offered them the option of accepting a pay raise to N250,000 or a rise in the price of fuel at the pump.

Speaking further, Ajaero added the labor movement has decided to accept N70,000 instead of N250,000 because of the hardship that continued increases in fuel prices would cause for the general public. 

“There’s a strategy to divert our focus, disparage us, make accusations against us regarding cybercrime, funding terrorism, endorsing terrorism, and other things.”

“These actions have paid off because the pump price issue has persisted even in the face of those accusations.”

“I reiterate, Mr. The President deceived us, Government authorities are disputing the statement we released expressing our betrayal. I’ll say it again, we were duped. Ajaero, you are the problem, Mr. President said to all of you present at the meeting.

According to a report by Punch, President Tinubu was quoted by Ajaero as saying, “Since we said subsidy is gone.” You do not wish to permit us to grow once more. Let me increase, and we’ll give you N250,000.

“The president said, ‘I’m giving you an hour to decide on this and get back to me,'” he continued.

He stated that we should make a decision regarding the N250,000 minimum salary and the increase in gas prices before he returns to his office.

“We declined, sir. This cannot be where we hold our meeting, Mr. President. Let’s take a one-week break before we return and update you. He said, “All right, I’m going to be travelling, but I’m going to cancel for a week.” We adjourned for one week in this manner.

We adjourned for one week if you were following the negotiations’ general direction. And upon our return from talks, we told Mr. President, 

“No, we cannot permit you to extend in any way, as that will impact all Nigerians and portray us as self-centred.”

Rejection of N250,000 wage offer and concerns over inflation

“Not even N250,000 will help us. Our economy will become unstable if we keep raising salaries, which will lead to more increases in the price of gasoline. Indeed, that N250,000 might not even be sufficient to purchase petrol.

The speaker added that the President offered to fund our tour to other West African nations, where gasoline sells for as low as N1,700.

He went on to say that none of the companies in Cameroon had refineries and that they all got their products from Nigeria, even if they were selling N2,000 there.

We advised him to inspect the borders, as that’s why goods are being smuggled into those nations.

We also declined since we knew Nigerians would claim to have given us money rather than that it was money to travel to those West African republics.

According to Ajaero, they “went there and told Mr. President, we are not here for an increase in pump price or negotiation” on the date of the adjournment.

Thus, let us focus on the minimum wage. Several of these factors influenced the decision to accept the N70,000 minimum pay, which several of us in attendance felt was insufficient. However, others continue to claim that they are unable to pay that N70,000.

This is the conundrum that we are all dealing with. The employers from the private sector that attended our meeting really treated us poorly.

They refused to change, preferring to cast their votes with the federal government, state governments, and the business sector on the one side and labor on the other. Some of these factors led to the numerous walkouts that you observed.