The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi has said that the Federal government plans to engage with the labour unions frequently without waiting for high tensions before initiating discussions.
This is as the Federal Government had a meeting with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Wednesday at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in Abuja.
Idris said the meeting surrounded on general discussions when asked if it focused on the new minimum wage.
“These are just general discussions. Government is always desirous of engaging with labour, this is one of such engagements. We will continue to interact with them. We don’t wait until there is tension about anything before we engage Labour.
“This is a renewed commitment on behalf of the government to continue to engage labour on a number of issues. These engagements have been very fruitful and we will continue to engage with them,” the Minister said.
Asked specifically what the meeting between the government and labour leaders focused on, Idris said a lot of things were discussed, adding that they’ve not reached conclusions that can be shared with Nigerians.
“A lot of things were discussed. But like I said, this is work in progress, this is something that isn’t a one-off thing, but we have not reached anything that we think that we can tell Nigerians now, but what is more important is that, there is going to be continuous engagement between us and labour for the good of the country,” the Minister said.
Further asked if the issue of the recent fuel price hike was discussed during the meeting, the Minister replied
“This is our continuous engagement with labour for the good of the country. You know that Labour is an important component of this country, all of them are our brothers and sisters. Government is there for everyone, including labour, so we will continue to engage labour for the good of the country.”
The recent hike in fuel price and the yet to be implemented minimum wage has affected most Nigerians. It was hoped that the meeting yesterday would be geared towards that direction.
